Amazon Web Services to Open Data Centers in Israel in 2023
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Amazon said on Friday it would open data centers in Israel in 2023, weeks after the country signed a NIS 4 billion ($ 1.23 billion) deal with the company’s web services subsidiary and Google.
“Today, Amazon Web Services Inc, an Amazon.com company, announced that it will open an infrastructure region in Israel in the first half of 2023,†AWS said in a statement Friday, Reuters reported.
In April, the two tech companies – AWS and Google – were selected as winners in the NIS 4 billion tender to build and deliver regional cloud-based data centers and services to the nation.
Israel signed the deals with the companies in May, which finance ministry officials say will ensure continuity of service even if tech giants come under pressure to boycott the country.
Israel Finance Ministry Accountant General Yahli Rotenberg, center, with other Finance Ministry officials in Jerusalem, May 24, 2021. (Shoshanna Solomon / Times of Israel)
They will build the data centers and provide cloud services to local government entities, with all data secured within Israel’s borders under strict security guidelines and under Israeli law.
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Israeli employees will need to pass security clearances.
The cloud project, called the Nimbus, is one of Israel’s largest information technology projects. It will allow ministries and other public entities to move servers and services to the cloud provided by the two tech companies. Until the data centers are built locally – within about two years – cloud services will be provided by Google and Amazon‘s AWS data centers in Ireland, the Netherlands and Frankfurt. All that data will then be transferred to that set up in Israel, the officials said.
The government contract with Google and Amazon for the services is for an initial term of seven years, with an option to extend for a total of 23 years, officials said. After the first seven years, Israel may add more suppliers or stop working with the current ones.
An illustrative image of a data center; server farm (cybrain; iStock by Getty Images)
The project, which involves setting up six data centers in Israel for an investment of at least NIS 4 billion, will provide some 500 direct jobs for each center, but will also boost employment indirectly through the services these centers provide. will use from other suppliers.
The centers will also help create an ecosystem for startups that provide cloud-based services, officials said, and train the workforce with the right skills that will then trickle down to the country’s tech ecosystem. Neighboring countries will also be able to exploit the cloud infrastructure set up in Israel, the finance ministry said.
The Nimbus project was divided into four parts with four separate tenders: to build the data centers and provide cloud services to the government on a public platform – won by Google and AWS; help define a government strategy to move operations to the cloud; provide technical assistance in the implementation of the move; and one not yet released to provide optimization services for cloud usage.
The KPMG consultants are the winners of the second call for tenders and will help set up a Cloud Center of Excellence, which will help define the government’s strategy to move business to the cloud.
The ministry said the tender to select dozens of small and medium-sized local vendors to help government entities move systems to the cloud and develop cloud-based systems is underway. The fourth tender is still being formulated, the ministry said.
Shoshana Solomon contributed to this report.
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