Bringing the cloud experience into the data center is the mission of AWS Outposts. The technology fits smoothly into Amazon Web Services Inc.’s move to define hybrid and dominate the edge, allowing users to operate on-premises or in collocated facilities using the same AWS application programming interfaces and tools that they do in the cloud.

“It’s important to give people that consistent experience wherever they might need the compute and storage and the other services,” said Joshua Burgin (pictured), general manager of AWS Outposts at AWS.

Burgin spoke with Rebecca Knight, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during AWS re:Invent. They discussed recent advancements in AWS Outposts. (* Disclosure below.)

Outposts spread AWS everywhere

Outposts is living up to its name. Now available in 51 countries and all 22 AWS Regions and GovCloud regions (except in China), the technology added 15 new services and incremental features in 2020, including the addition of Simple Storage Service or S3. The latest announcement is the arrival of smaller Outposts form factors coming in 2021.

“These are 1 [rack unit] and 2U size servers about the size of one or two pizza boxes stacked on top of each other,” Burgin explained. The regular Outposts installations are a full-rack of compute, sometimes more, so they address needs of customers with restricted space. “That’s going to make Outposts available to even more use cases,” he added.

Outposts is already used in a wide range of industries and market segments. Telco customers, including Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Telefónica S.A., use Outposts to run their 5G packet core technology. “They need to minimize latency to single-digit milliseconds,” Burgin said.

Companies with major government contracts, including Lockheed Martin Corp., are using Outposts to help meet compliance regimes and data residency requirements.

Then there are healthcare providers, including Koninklijke Philips N.V. “They’re bringing their medical imaging solution to Outposts,” Burgin said. “It allows them to modernize the way they deliver services to hospitals and medical research centers around the world, something that really wouldn’t be possible without having AWS everywhere.”

And for those companies who need absolute reliability from third-party solutions, AWS provides the AWS Outposts Ready program.

“These are solutions from our AWS Partner Network that are validated in following our best practices on AWS Outposts,” Burgin said.

To qualify, solutions are validated and tested against very specific technical criteria and security requirements. This guarantees a consistent hybrid experience, whether a solution is from a third party or AWS and whether it is deployed on Outposts, in an AWS Region, on an AWS Local Zone or in an AWS Wavelength Zone.

“No matter where you’re using it, it has to work the same way,” Burgin said. “We’re not just saying maybe this could work, but this will work.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: The AWS Partner Network sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither the AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE