AWS and Google build a fix for multi-cloud barriers they said didn't exist
After reassuring regulators all was well, pair debut interconnect to smooth the bumps
RE:INVENT AWS and Google Cloud are promoting a jointly developed multi-cloud connectivity service, despite recently assuring competition authorities that no technical barriers existed for customers wanting to operate across multiple clouds.
The cloud giants say they've built a tool "to transform how cloud service providers connect with one another." It links Google's Cross-Cloud Interconnect with AWS Interconnect, allowing customers to set up a private high-speed link between resources running on their respective clouds.
The two companies claim they've produced a new open specification for network interoperability, with the API available for other providers to adopt.
Historically, connecting different cloud environments has been challenging, forcing customers into complex "do-it-yourself" approaches to manage global multi-layered networks at scale, Google says. Customers had to manually set up networking components including physical connections and equipment, which meant lengthy lead times and coordinating with multiple internal and external teams in a process that could take months.
AWS said it had a "vision" to develop a unified specification that any cloud provider could adopt, and worked with Google Cloud to bring it to market.
This is a sharp departure from last year, when both companies responded to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) findings that barriers existed for customers wanting to switch or operate across multiple clouds.
AWS insisted "there is no interoperability problem in cloud services," adding that its core compute, storage, database, analytics, and networking services "enable customers to build fully interoperable and transportable solutions, which are cloud agnostic."
Google stated that customers with multi-cloud strategies experience "minimal barriers to integration across multiple public clouds" due to open APIs and other workarounds.
So minimal are these barriers that both companies felt compelled to craft a special solution to address them.
Google is offering a managed, private, and secure on-demand solution so customers can build applications that span Google Cloud and AWS environments, with on-demand bandwidth starting at 1 Gbps during preview and scaling to 100 Gbps at general availability.
The AWS equivalent is AWS Interconnect - multicloud, currently available in preview, described as simplifying multi-cloud connectivity between AWS and other major cloud service providers, starting with Google Cloud.
"This collaboration between AWS and Google Cloud represents a fundamental shift in multi-cloud connectivity," AWS VP of Network Services Robert Kennedy said, "customers no longer need to worry about any heavy lifting to create their desired connectivity... it's ready to activate in minutes with a simple point and click."
As for the outcome of the CMA investigation into the health of the UK cloud market? It proposed designating AWS and Microsoft with strategic market status (SMS) to introduce targeted measures, but those options remain under consideration. ®