Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary AWS has announced that customers can now transfer their data out of its ecosystem without any “egress fees” attached.
This revelation comes shortly after Google made a similar announcement. As the third-largest player in the public cloud market, Google’s move was seen as setting an example for AWS and Microsoft. The goal is to make it more cost-effective for companies to switch cloud providers.
These decisions align with the principles outlined in the European Data Act, which aims to promote competition by enabling cloud customers to switch providers more easily, whether it’s to a different cloud service, adopting a multi-cloud strategy, or bringing their data back in-house.
While AWS already allows customers to transfer up to 100GB of data per month for free, this new change now enables companies to migrate their entire data stores to another provider without incurring additional costs.
It’s important to note that while the European Data Act focuses on competition within Europe, AWS’s policy change applies globally, similar to Google’s earlier announcement.
Businesses interested in moving their data from AWS can contact AWS for assistance, and AWS will provide credits for the data migration. However, AWS principal developer advocate Sébastien Stormacq hopes that customers won’t have to go through the hassle of leaving their platform.
With Google and AWS leading the way, Microsoft is likely to follow suit. TechCrunch has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update accordingly.
