Amazon Web Services Extends Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC)

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced expanded functionality of Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). Starting today, AWS has broadened an enterprise’s networking options with Amazon VPC by letting them specify which of their Amazon VPC resources they wish to make directly accessible to the Internet and which they do not. Before today, customers of Amazon EC2 could provision a private, isolated section of the AWS cloud (called an Amazon VPC) and launch AWS resources into that VPC that were only accessible via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection to an existing enterprise datacenter. Amazon VPC was not directly accessible to the Internet. With today’s announcement enterprises no longer need a VPN or existing infrastructure resources in order to leverage Amazon VPC.

“With the full suite of Citrix products on AWS, our joint customers can securely access corporate applications and information anytime, anywhere and to any device from Amazon Web Services.”

Enterprises can now define a virtual network topology in Amazon VPC that closely resembles a traditional network that they might operate in their own datacenter. Customers have complete control over the virtual networking environment, including selection of IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways. Users can easily customize the network configuration for Amazon VPC, for example creating a public-facing subnet for web servers that have access to the Internet, and placing backend systems such as databases or application servers in a private-facing subnet with no Internet access. Enterprises can continue to choose to connect Amazon VPC to their own existing IT infrastructure with an encrypted VPN connection, extending enterprises’ existing security and management policies to Amazon VPC instances as if they were running within an existing datacenter. To learn more and to get started using Amazon VPC, visit http://aws.amazon.com.

“Amazon VPC has been the first stop for many enterprises as they build migration plans to the cloud. The service has provided a secure bridge between an existing datacenter and the AWS cloud via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and enables enterprises to extend their existing security and management policies to AWS,” said Peter De Santis, General Manager of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. “Starting today, enterprises can also choose to connect to AWS without a VPN, by setting up virtual networks within the AWS cloud that they can control and customize. We’re excited to make available this level of security and simplicity.”

Amazon VPC enables enterprises to easily customize network configurations as well as leverage multiple layers of security for access to Amazon EC2 instances, including security groups and network access control lists. With Amazon VPC, enterprises can:

Create an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud on AWS’s scalable infrastructure, and specify its private IP address range from any range they choose.
Divide Amazon VPC’s private IP address range into one or more public or private subnets to facilitate running applications and services in Amazon VPC.
Control inbound and outbound access to and from individual subnets using network access control lists.
Store data in Amazon S3 and set permissions so the data can only be accessed from within Amazon VPC.
Attach an Amazon Elastic IP Address to any Amazon VPC instance so it can be reached directly from the Internet.
Bridge Amazon VPC and an enterprise’s own IT infrastructure with an encrypted VPN connection, extending enterprises’ existing security and management policies to Amazon VPC instances as if they were running within an existing datacenter.

“We are very excited about this new offering from Amazon Web Services and how it will help with software deployment in the cloud,” said Dr. Wolfram Jost, Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Board, Software AG. “Using AWS to deploy software is a trend that we have seen many of our customers looking to adopt. With Amazon’s VPC Internet Gateway, customers will create network configurations that are familiar to what they have in their data center. It gives them the power to support their enterprise software deployments without having to reconfigure or reinvent their networking configuration. With Amazon’s VPC Internet Gateway, customers have the flexibility to adapt their deployed software as their needs change and their implementations grow. As we look to our vision for the cloud, ensuring that our customers can deploy their SOA and BPM based solutions built on webMethods software in an environment that is seamless to their on-premise solutions is a key need.”

“This is a significant enhancement for our Cloud-based ERP offerings,” said Terry Plath, Vice President of Cloud and Managed Services, Lawson Software, a global provider of enterprise software. “Amazon VPC will enable Lawson to easily provision and maintain our multi-tier ERP applications safely and securely in the Amazon Web Services Cloud. The flexible options for connectivity, combined with the virtual networking capabilities, will allow us to manage our customers’ Cloud environments as we have historically managed in physical datacenters, but with the simplicity and cost savings of the cloud.”

“Virtual networking flexibility for Amazon VPC is another great step to help enterprises easily access the power of the AWS cloud,” said Gordon Mangione, VP, business development, Datacenter and Cloud Division at Citrix. “With the full suite of Citrix products on AWS, our joint customers can securely access corporate applications and information anytime, anywhere and to any device from Amazon Web Services.”

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, and www.amazon.it. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.