Amazon setting up AWS in Seoul

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Amazon setting up AWS in Seoul

Amazon, the world’s No. 1 online book store, was belatedly found to have set up the Korean-language Web site for its cloud computing unit called Amazon Web Services (AWS) last Friday.

The operation, which effectively rents out Amazon’s servers to companies, among other services, is set to begin in July at the earliest, according to local media reports.

A Korean-language site (aws.amazon.com/ko) is now available on the AWS Web page along with the following instruction: “Creating an account is free, only pay for what you use.” It has not been confirmed whether Amazon will also start a book and e-book reader sales business here.

The six-year-old AWS is known to store vast amounts of data for clients, rent IT infrastructure and offer database solutions as well as provide Web hosting and data analysis. Korean enterprises such as KT, Samsung SDS, LG CNS and SK C&C are seen as potential competitors to AWS.

During his visit to Seoul last week, Andrew Jassy, senior vice president at AWS, told local media that the market entry came in response to rising demand from Korea’s corporate sector.

Samsung Electronics, for instance, is known to have saved $34 million when it established a system to deal with heavy smart TV content using the AWS service. And by making use of AWS’s supercomputer resources, Seoul National University’s Genomic Medicine Institute was able to halve the time it spent on analyzing DNA sequences. Other Korean clients include Neowiz Game, a major online game operator, Olaworks, an IT startup that was recently purchased by Intel, and Paprika Lab, a game and learning software developer.

AWS has been recruiting workers for its Korean operation since the beginning of this year in positions ranging from sales development to solutions architecture.

Its data centers operate 445,000 servers in various world cities.

By Seo Ji-eun [spring@joongang.co.kr]

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