AWS Region Coming to New Zealand(aws.amazon.com)
aws.amazon.com
AWS Region Coming to New Zealand
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/in-the-works-aws-region-in-new-zealand/
119 comments
I'm amazed by how much the list of regions has gotten over the years. Most companies I've worked for have only used at most 2 regions for EC2, more for S3. Aside from Cloudfront, are there use cases you've seen for having compute in every region?
I don't think it is so much compute in every region as it is data storage there.
My company stores user data and deploys to most AWS regions. It's a big win for some companies to be able to have their data stay in a given area (esp the EU, but I've also heard Canada mentioned).
My company stores user data and deploys to most AWS regions. It's a big win for some companies to be able to have their data stay in a given area (esp the EU, but I've also heard Canada mentioned).
A lot of businesses like to have their cloud ops located in and subject to the laws of the country said businesses are based in.
governments as well.
Yes many hosting companies in NZ rely on that. It's going to be hard for them to keep their niche.
[deleted]
Depends on your architecture.
You're still restricted by physics with edge computing. If you need to make a call back into us-east-1 to get data out of a data store, it doesn't matter that there's an edge CDN and API layer.
Outside of that, there's compliance reasons too. Partitioning your data by region because storing customer information in say the EU is different than the US. More likely CN is much different than the rest of the world if you do business there.
You're still restricted by physics with edge computing. If you need to make a call back into us-east-1 to get data out of a data store, it doesn't matter that there's an edge CDN and API layer.
Outside of that, there's compliance reasons too. Partitioning your data by region because storing customer information in say the EU is different than the US. More likely CN is much different than the rest of the world if you do business there.
It does in fact matter that your tcp packets are roundtripping over lower rtt connection even if you do have to fetch from the origin
There are many use cases for compute in every (or at least, 3+) regions. But it's very difficult to manage. So difficult that most things that would benefit can't afford the complexity.
Redundancy, but I don't know how easy AWS makes it to run say, a container, in two different regions. I think their load balancers can balance between regions but I'm not sure how well other services can do it.
What comes to mind is DNS based load balancing. You'd have a full stack running in each region, and users get routed to the one nearest them. I could see this working for something like Dropbox or an email service where users can be easily segmented.
You can do that or you can use their Global Accelerator thingy that gives you an anycast IP but technically they dont have an lb that spans regions (nor would you probably want one)
Yeah I think I was thinking of the Route 53 based region load balancing, not the load balancer products themselves.
A large part of the actual answer is that they are doing a build in for their first party services like Amazon Prime Video.
Those services don't want to be sent intercontinental because it's just an enormous amount of data, and they will incur back-haul charges. Same is true for customer multimedia services.
The other reason is data governance/sovereignty use cases. With a bit of ultra high latency on the side.
Those services don't want to be sent intercontinental because it's just an enormous amount of data, and they will incur back-haul charges. Same is true for customer multimedia services.
The other reason is data governance/sovereignty use cases. With a bit of ultra high latency on the side.
Realtime applications. Anything having to do with video & audio mixing or interaction (WebRTC, VoIP, AR/XR, NLU, Gaming, etc...) Having those as close to the end consumers as possible can dramatically improve the experience and make them far more engaging/enjoyable.
In fact, it's critical enough in many applications that clients may want to access the services in the same cloud they use /as well as/ in the same region (or potentially in their own data center.) So that means designing the systems to deploy on any cloud provider.
While this does limit the number of niceties you can use from a single provider, it allows for some pretty amazing flexibility.
In fact, it's critical enough in many applications that clients may want to access the services in the same cloud they use /as well as/ in the same region (or potentially in their own data center.) So that means designing the systems to deploy on any cloud provider.
While this does limit the number of niceties you can use from a single provider, it allows for some pretty amazing flexibility.
Anything where you want minimal latency, worldwide.
This is big news for us in NZ, and on the back of Microsoft announcing an Azure region here too. Pretty good for a small country to have both AWS and Azure regions right here on our doorstep.
It is great news and I am surprised to be honest. From New Zealand, our closest AWS region is Sydney with a ping (over Wifi, as I write this from Auckland) of 44ms. Our population is ~5M.
This only spells great things for the tech prospects in NZ which are already very bright. I, for one, am excited to continue to base tech businesses in this country.
This only spells great things for the tech prospects in NZ which are already very bright. I, for one, am excited to continue to base tech businesses in this country.
RTT to Sydney from Auckland over fibre is about half that at 25ms.
Disturbingly enough my ping is 32ms from Wellington to Sydney, and over 40ms to Christchurch, even though Christchurch is ~10x closer.
Melbourne to Sydney I'm getting 33ms average.
Your 25ms is awesome, you guys did a much better broadband network than us
A few interesting NZ tech developments that HNers may not be aware of:
* Microsoft announced an Azure datacenter back in May: https://news.microsoft.com/en-nz/2020/05/06/aotearoa-disclos...
* Larry Page was revealed to be permanent resident of NZ after his child was medievaced from Fiji to Auckland for treatment: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448544/google-billionair...
* Gabe Newell has been here since the initial lockdowns around March 2020 (he was on holiday at the time) and has since applied for residency: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nzs-newest-billi...
* Microsoft announced an Azure datacenter back in May: https://news.microsoft.com/en-nz/2020/05/06/aotearoa-disclos...
* Larry Page was revealed to be permanent resident of NZ after his child was medievaced from Fiji to Auckland for treatment: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/448544/google-billionair...
* Gabe Newell has been here since the initial lockdowns around March 2020 (he was on holiday at the time) and has since applied for residency: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nzs-newest-billi...
Google also announced an engineering office in Auckland:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125854506/joining-google-as...
And tech SVP Urs is moving there: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/technology/2021/07/new-zealan...
And tech SVP Urs is moving there: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/technology/2021/07/new-zealan...
Gabe Newell is definitely back in the US, he's been giving in-person interviews in Seattle (Bellevue but whatever) about Valve's upcoming hardware product.
And don't forget.
11 years ago, Kim Dotcom came to New Zealand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom#Move_to_New_Zealand
11 years ago, Kim Dotcom came to New Zealand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dotcom#Move_to_New_Zealand
Didn't Peter Thiel buy an apocalypse bunker or something in New Zealand?
He bought a multimillion-dollar house (the "plasma house") in Queenstown, which he's been trying to sell. Not sure what other property he might have, but a apocalypse bunker that place is not.
https://archipro.co.nz/project/plasma-house-queenstown-marin...
https://archipro.co.nz/project/plasma-house-queenstown-marin...
Him and dozens of billionaires
He also bought citizenship.
only had to spend 12 days in the country too. Just enough to visit all the LoTR sites I guess.
Ah you ruined it. it will all be downhill from then on
I did not know Page was in New Zealand. The article suggests Page is not a resident not a resident.
> Immigration NZ said Page is a New Zealand resident.
> It said Page does not have permanent residence and his visa will allow him to travel in and out of New Zealand only for a defined period of time.
> Immigration NZ said Page is a New Zealand resident.
> It said Page does not have permanent residence and his visa will allow him to travel in and out of New Zealand only for a defined period of time.
New Zealand has two types of residence that resemble what other countries call permanent residence, one is called Resident, the other Permanent Resident.
Resident is like permanent residence in most other countries (e.g. green card in US, PR in Canada, etc). A New Zealand Resident can live in the country indefinitely, but if they live outside of New Zealand for an extended period of time, they lose their Resident status. This is again like US, Australia, Canada, etc. After two years of living in New Zealand as a Resident, one can apply for Permanent Resident status, which does not expire regardless of the length of absence from the country. In other countries, you have to get citizenship before you can do this. In New Zealand, Permanent Resident is a status between Resident and New Zealand Citizen. What the article says is that he is a resident, he can enter New Zealand for now, but his status is of the expirable kind.
New Zealand Resident ~ US/Canada/Australia/Germany/etc. Permanent Resident
New Zealand Permanent Resident ~ Nothing that I know of, it's unique
New Zealand Citizen = US/Canada/Australia/Germany/etc. Citizen
Resident is like permanent residence in most other countries (e.g. green card in US, PR in Canada, etc). A New Zealand Resident can live in the country indefinitely, but if they live outside of New Zealand for an extended period of time, they lose their Resident status. This is again like US, Australia, Canada, etc. After two years of living in New Zealand as a Resident, one can apply for Permanent Resident status, which does not expire regardless of the length of absence from the country. In other countries, you have to get citizenship before you can do this. In New Zealand, Permanent Resident is a status between Resident and New Zealand Citizen. What the article says is that he is a resident, he can enter New Zealand for now, but his status is of the expirable kind.
New Zealand Resident ~ US/Canada/Australia/Germany/etc. Permanent Resident
New Zealand Permanent Resident ~ Nothing that I know of, it's unique
New Zealand Citizen = US/Canada/Australia/Germany/etc. Citizen
I'm an Australian permanent resident.
Aussie Permanent residency doesn't exactly work that way, it depends on certain factors whether you will need to apply for a "returning resident visa" or not.
It does not depend on whether you have been living outside of Australia for an extended period of time. Under certain conditions, you could live outside of Australia for several years and still be able to return without the need to apply for a visa.
I'm not going through the minute details because it would be OT but anyone interested in this topic can look here https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/permanent-resident/ove... and here https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li...
That is not all one needs to know, there is more than that. It's best to talk to an immigration lawyer in case one is unsure about their travel rights.
Aussie Permanent residency doesn't exactly work that way, it depends on certain factors whether you will need to apply for a "returning resident visa" or not.
It does not depend on whether you have been living outside of Australia for an extended period of time. Under certain conditions, you could live outside of Australia for several years and still be able to return without the need to apply for a visa.
I'm not going through the minute details because it would be OT but anyone interested in this topic can look here https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/permanent-resident/ove... and here https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-li...
That is not all one needs to know, there is more than that. It's best to talk to an immigration lawyer in case one is unsure about their travel rights.
Yes, New Zealand PR has a lot of rights. Almost as many rights that I have as a British Citizen born outside the UK (my only passport from birth to now).
It's been my dream for the past 10 years to move to New Zealand, and thank God, I was finally granted a Resident visa in May 2021. If you're thinking about moving here though, please don't get your hopes up too high - the application process is very slow and it would've been faster if I'd moved elsewhere. People here have been wonderful, but the government's approach has been hostile to migrants, and I came close to despair several times on the long journey here.
November 2011 - February 2012 Working Holiday visa. Summer job at FPH.
early 2014 - Wanting to return, Skilled Migrant Category visa requires me to get "2 years continuous relevant work experience". Moved to Taiwan (an approved labour market), worked for a microSD manufacturer.
mid-2016 - NZ changes rules to "3 years continuous relevant work experience". Political problems in UK and US cause mass exodus of English-speaking people to NZ, Canada, Australia. Wait times start climbing.
mid-2017 - NZ changes rules to "3 years and a minimum salary of $70k"
mid-2018 - Left Taiwan. Applying for jobs remotely, getting nowhere. Parents supported me to come to NZ and look for a job.
Feb 2019 - Applied for Skilled Migrant Category resident visa.
May 2019 - Left, waited 6 months for temporary work visa to be processed. Working remotely, unpaid, for IoT startup in Auckland. Living in hostels, girlfriend's family in Taiwan, parents in France. Financially supported by parents.
Nov 2019 - Dec 2020 - working in North Shore, actually getting paid! Company already prepared for remote work, thankfully. But not paid every month because the company was running out of money. Began asking around for other jobs.
October 2020 - Case officer assigned to SMC visa application. Hired McVeagh Fleming lawyers to buy me time so I could try to get another job.
January 2021 - Started new job at FPH!
February 2021 - Resident visa approved!
May 2021 - Resident visa issued. After applying, the processing time took 2 years 5 months.
In theory, I could now have a family! My British passport can't be passed on to future kids, but my NZ Resident status should allow children born here to become citizens. However, it is not possible for my girlfriend to join me from Taiwan. It wouldn't help to get married - partnership visas would requires us to live together for over a year (which is obviously not possible these days). Every day my mind wonders whether it's still worth waiting, then every night we chat, and my heart falls in love with her all over again. She's stood firm through so many ups and downs, how could I turn away from that commitment now? She's wonderful, and worth waiting for, even if I never know when or if that day will come.
It's been my dream for the past 10 years to move to New Zealand, and thank God, I was finally granted a Resident visa in May 2021. If you're thinking about moving here though, please don't get your hopes up too high - the application process is very slow and it would've been faster if I'd moved elsewhere. People here have been wonderful, but the government's approach has been hostile to migrants, and I came close to despair several times on the long journey here.
November 2011 - February 2012 Working Holiday visa. Summer job at FPH.
early 2014 - Wanting to return, Skilled Migrant Category visa requires me to get "2 years continuous relevant work experience". Moved to Taiwan (an approved labour market), worked for a microSD manufacturer.
mid-2016 - NZ changes rules to "3 years continuous relevant work experience". Political problems in UK and US cause mass exodus of English-speaking people to NZ, Canada, Australia. Wait times start climbing.
mid-2017 - NZ changes rules to "3 years and a minimum salary of $70k"
mid-2018 - Left Taiwan. Applying for jobs remotely, getting nowhere. Parents supported me to come to NZ and look for a job.
Feb 2019 - Applied for Skilled Migrant Category resident visa.
May 2019 - Left, waited 6 months for temporary work visa to be processed. Working remotely, unpaid, for IoT startup in Auckland. Living in hostels, girlfriend's family in Taiwan, parents in France. Financially supported by parents.
Nov 2019 - Dec 2020 - working in North Shore, actually getting paid! Company already prepared for remote work, thankfully. But not paid every month because the company was running out of money. Began asking around for other jobs.
October 2020 - Case officer assigned to SMC visa application. Hired McVeagh Fleming lawyers to buy me time so I could try to get another job.
January 2021 - Started new job at FPH!
February 2021 - Resident visa approved!
May 2021 - Resident visa issued. After applying, the processing time took 2 years 5 months.
In theory, I could now have a family! My British passport can't be passed on to future kids, but my NZ Resident status should allow children born here to become citizens. However, it is not possible for my girlfriend to join me from Taiwan. It wouldn't help to get married - partnership visas would requires us to live together for over a year (which is obviously not possible these days). Every day my mind wonders whether it's still worth waiting, then every night we chat, and my heart falls in love with her all over again. She's stood firm through so many ups and downs, how could I turn away from that commitment now? She's wonderful, and worth waiting for, even if I never know when or if that day will come.
You are not the only one waiting far too long.
The NZ governments approach to immigration during the Covid period is disappointing.
Kris Faafoi is a disgrace and should step down.
I'm from NZ but I know other families forced to separate due to the cruel decision to keep postponing resident applications.
The NZ governments approach to immigration during the Covid period is disappointing.
Kris Faafoi is a disgrace and should step down.
I'm from NZ but I know other families forced to separate due to the cruel decision to keep postponing resident applications.
I agree. He seems to have done absolutely nothing. Every month it's the same statement, "we're looking into it". (And I actually like most of what this government has done.)
My mate has worked here something like 4-5 years now, still on work visa.
This lockdown Auckland immigration office was shut so his visa wasn’t renewed. Basically has to leave the country if immi doesn’t come up with something. All because NZ’ers have exemption for travel and brought back a fucking delta strain.
This lockdown Auckland immigration office was shut so his visa wasn’t renewed. Basically has to leave the country if immi doesn’t come up with something. All because NZ’ers have exemption for travel and brought back a fucking delta strain.
what's worse is during the Auckland lockdown they effectively shut down for 6 weeks so nothing was processed.
> It's been my dream for the past 10 years to move to New Zealand
Why?
I'm a real doomer when it comes to NZ. Everything I liked about it is disappearing and everything I dislike about it gets worse.
Why?
I'm a real doomer when it comes to NZ. Everything I liked about it is disappearing and everything I dislike about it gets worse.
I'm a NZer and not a doomer at all, and certainly not compared to what's happening elsewhere.
It seems to me NZ's main problems are ones it has had for a long time (housing, inequality, gangs, drugs), some of them are getting better (tech industry), and the stuff I like is still good (tramping, food, environment, sane politics).
It seems to me NZ's main problems are ones it has had for a long time (housing, inequality, gangs, drugs), some of them are getting better (tech industry), and the stuff I like is still good (tramping, food, environment, sane politics).
What sort of tech wages do you see here?
Wages for local NZ companies are mostly bad. In spite of that, we are breeding more and more successful companies for reasons I can only guess at. You have a much better chance of finding interesting work than used to be the case.
But the untold story of tech work in NZ is that working remotely for good wages is rapidly getting easier. I started the Mozilla NZ office in 2007 and we were paid adequately, because back then HR didn't have a firm "local cost of labour" policy. Since then I've seen friends find remote work at other companies to get paid a lot more than they would locally for the same job. Zapier is a good one. We can all see that remote work is trending steeply upward in general; it doesn't always translate into location-insensitive pay policies, but sometimes it does.
But the untold story of tech work in NZ is that working remotely for good wages is rapidly getting easier. I started the Mozilla NZ office in 2007 and we were paid adequately, because back then HR didn't have a firm "local cost of labour" policy. Since then I've seen friends find remote work at other companies to get paid a lot more than they would locally for the same job. Zapier is a good one. We can all see that remote work is trending steeply upward in general; it doesn't always translate into location-insensitive pay policies, but sometimes it does.
"everything I dislike about it" is not a short list for me either, but that means there's more that we can fix!
Canadians have a reputation for saying "sorry", let's give NZ a reputation for saying "thank you".
If I stayed in Switzerland (where I was born, but have no citizenship because parents weren't resident), I would have to join the army and kill foreigners. Same in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Austria... many otherwise nice countries still apply conscription, and I'm a pacifist.
People who want to make more money choose to move away to Australia, London, or California. Likewise in Kaohsiung, career-minded people move to Taipei or Hong Kong. The Immigration department is trying to alter that by preferentially issuing visas to rich people, but that's not how this works - it'll just increase inequality, and the government won't even make more money in taxes because most rich people find loopholes and tax havens anyway.
People who choose to move to New Zealand usually have something more worthwhile in life to hope for :)
Canadians have a reputation for saying "sorry", let's give NZ a reputation for saying "thank you".
If I stayed in Switzerland (where I was born, but have no citizenship because parents weren't resident), I would have to join the army and kill foreigners. Same in Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Austria... many otherwise nice countries still apply conscription, and I'm a pacifist.
People who want to make more money choose to move away to Australia, London, or California. Likewise in Kaohsiung, career-minded people move to Taipei or Hong Kong. The Immigration department is trying to alter that by preferentially issuing visas to rich people, but that's not how this works - it'll just increase inequality, and the government won't even make more money in taxes because most rich people find loopholes and tax havens anyway.
People who choose to move to New Zealand usually have something more worthwhile in life to hope for :)
What foreigners are people in the Swiss or Taiwanese army killing!?
If you move to NZ, I hope you're earning a lot of money. Everything is expensive. Housing especially - though you're used to that to an extent if you know Taipei.
If you move to NZ, I hope you're earning a lot of money. Everything is expensive. Housing especially - though you're used to that to an extent if you know Taipei.
I was in Kaohsiung, where my rent was once as low as 3500 NTD per month = 45 NZD per week :D
Here in Auckland I'm currently paying 130 NZD per week for a room in a house shared with 3 others, about 15 mins bike ride from the office.
Here in Auckland I'm currently paying 130 NZD per week for a room in a house shared with 3 others, about 15 mins bike ride from the office.
I had a lovely time in Kaohsiung. I thought it was the most beautiful city in the country by far, much nicer than Taipei.
Heard the pollution is pretty bad though. And the driving was even worse than Taipei.
Heard the pollution is pretty bad though. And the driving was even worse than Taipei.
> many otherwise nice countries still apply conscription
It may be the case that it is a necessary condition for remaining a nice country. At least if their neighbors aren't always so nice.
Most civilized countries with universal conscription allow you to do unarmed service (military support tasks) or civil service. In addition there's usually plenty of wiggle room to avoid the conscription altogether: health reasons (or excuses), being a member of certain religions, delaying/avoiding/hiding, or just plain refusing.
It may be the case that it is a necessary condition for remaining a nice country. At least if their neighbors aren't always so nice.
Most civilized countries with universal conscription allow you to do unarmed service (military support tasks) or civil service. In addition there's usually plenty of wiggle room to avoid the conscription altogether: health reasons (or excuses), being a member of certain religions, delaying/avoiding/hiding, or just plain refusing.
Everyone is a doomer about their own country. Grass is always greener on the other side.
Curiously you can vote as a Permanent Resident.
As far as I can tell, the only difference is that you don't get to have an NZ passport.
My father has lived here for 50 years and hasn't bothered to get Citizenship.
As far as I can tell, the only difference is that you don't get to have an NZ passport.
My father has lived here for 50 years and hasn't bothered to get Citizenship.
A significant reason to have the NZ passport is that you can live and work in Australia freely.
Exactly.
Student Visa -> Residence Visa -> Permanent Residence Visa -> Citizenship can be done in about the time it takes to get a post graduate degree. It's very commonly done.
Student Visa -> Residence Visa -> Permanent Residence Visa -> Citizenship can be done in about the time it takes to get a post graduate degree. It's very commonly done.
Sadly that hasn't happened for at least 2 of my friends from Global church (Krystal and Agnes). They were both here when I came on Working Holiday in summer 2011-12. They're both still here, still stuck in Student visa -> Work visa cycles.
There is no path to residency that I can see unless you're 1. obscenely wealthy or 2. working for a large, rich company who work closely with MBIE.
And because those companies work closely with MBIE, the Minister's advice gets passed down to HR. So it's extremely difficult to get jobs at such companies without already being a citizen or resident. I still think it's pretty miraculous that I was offered the job now, and barely in time for the case officer!
The solution is for HR to push back, and specifically demand that we have more people from other countries. Right now we're working on translating some software, and it would be much more convenient to have native speakers of other languages working in the company. Instead, we contract it out to a third party, but they don't have the context (and we can't share everything with them due to intellectual property considerations). So we really need to be allowed to hire some more multicultural people, it will help the company and help the world.
There is no path to residency that I can see unless you're 1. obscenely wealthy or 2. working for a large, rich company who work closely with MBIE.
And because those companies work closely with MBIE, the Minister's advice gets passed down to HR. So it's extremely difficult to get jobs at such companies without already being a citizen or resident. I still think it's pretty miraculous that I was offered the job now, and barely in time for the case officer!
The solution is for HR to push back, and specifically demand that we have more people from other countries. Right now we're working on translating some software, and it would be much more convenient to have native speakers of other languages working in the company. Instead, we contract it out to a third party, but they don't have the context (and we can't share everything with them due to intellectual property considerations). So we really need to be allowed to hire some more multicultural people, it will help the company and help the world.
...what is Global Church?
The Global congregation of Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, 10:30 am Sunday, 429 Queen St. One of the least "baptist" of baptist churches that I've known; started as a Bible study for non-native English speakers and grew into a whole church! We thank Jesus by singing songs, listen to someone talk for 20-30 mins, discuss questions around circular tables, then share lunch together.
My favourite church is where the sermons are convicting and the people are encouraging (and least favourite is the opposite). Global is a really great community, welcoming newcomers, and encouraging humble conversation rather than pushing a view. So please, welcome to join and worship God with us online! (and in person after lockdown's done for the food)
https://www.youtube.com/user/tabglobal
My favourite church is where the sermons are convicting and the people are encouraging (and least favourite is the opposite). Global is a really great community, welcoming newcomers, and encouraging humble conversation rather than pushing a view. So please, welcome to join and worship God with us online! (and in person after lockdown's done for the food)
https://www.youtube.com/user/tabglobal
An often underappreciated distinction between citizens and permanent residents is that if you are convicted of an offence you may be liable to forced removal if you are a non-citizen. [0]
There are cases in Australia of people who have spent nearly their entire life in the country, but never obtained citizenship, and who were deported for committing crimes, [1] including minor drug offences.
[0] https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/not-rated/d...
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/21/it-st...
[0] https://communitylaw.org.nz/community-law-manual/not-rated/d...
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/21/it-st...
[deleted]
You can vote as a Temporary Resident as well...
Really? You just made me much more interested in NZ politics, if I'm finally allowed to have an opinion and express that with a vote.
Is there a policy-comparison website? I think I know who I admire most, but I think it's unlikely that they'll ever get elected outside of a coalition. So it makes more sense to vote strategically for the constituency where I'm living.
Is there a policy-comparison website? I think I know who I admire most, but I think it's unlikely that they'll ever get elected outside of a coalition. So it makes more sense to vote strategically for the constituency where I'm living.
It's almost never possible for any party to govern without a coalition (since we changed from FPP to MMP in 1996). The 2020 election was the first time since 1993 that any party won an outright majority of the seats, and they had unique circumstances to thank: pandemic success and an imploding main opposition party. This perhaps-overly-detailed article will give you a good picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Zealand_general_elect...
There are a few comparison sites. https://policy.nz/ is one, but note that there are a bunch of minor parties that didn't get any seats (some of which just popped up for this election), so use the Wikipedia article above to get an idea of who actually mattered in the end.
There are a few comparison sites. https://policy.nz/ is one, but note that there are a bunch of minor parties that didn't get any seats (some of which just popped up for this election), so use the Wikipedia article above to get an idea of who actually mattered in the end.
yea permanent residency is basically citizenship- mostly used by people who have passports from countries that doesn't allow dual/multiple citizenship.
> The article suggests Page is not a resident not a resident.
your sentence doesn't make sense.
your sentence doesn't make sense.
[deleted]
Isn’t gabe back in the US now?
After funding and pushing the changes that have destroyed their home country, they've now taken all the money they siphoned and have moved elsewhere. How typical.
NZ was rated the best place to live in the event of societal collapse.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/new-zealand-ra...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/new-zealand-ra...
Same paper today "New Zealand is no ‘off-grid’ safe haven from the apocalypse" - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/23/new-ze...
The link I posted was news (red), the link you posted was opinion (orange).
The market is not so big here so I would think certain client's security policy about localized data storage would play a role in their decision to build a center here.
I imagine Microsoft announcing a data centre here played a significant role - AWS wouldn't want to be the cloud service with _less_ regions than Microsoft.
There are significant AWS customers in New Zealand (Xero jumps to mind) that I imagine Microsoft would love to target with that differentiator of a local data centre.
There are significant AWS customers in New Zealand (Xero jumps to mind) that I imagine Microsoft would love to target with that differentiator of a local data centre.
But AWS have less regions than Azure:
25+8 under construction for AWS[0]
65(some under construction) for Azure[1]
However Azure regions are a single DC, while an AWS region is 3 Availability Zones ( each being at least a single DC), which is much much better for redundancy. Remember that time the whole of Azure's portal and O365 were inaccessible (nobody could log in) because some equipment failed in a single DC in Texas? Design for failure
0 - https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/ 1 - https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/20/microsoft-azure-announces-...
25+8 under construction for AWS[0]
65(some under construction) for Azure[1]
However Azure regions are a single DC, while an AWS region is 3 Availability Zones ( each being at least a single DC), which is much much better for redundancy. Remember that time the whole of Azure's portal and O365 were inaccessible (nobody could log in) because some equipment failed in a single DC in Texas? Design for failure
0 - https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/ 1 - https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/20/microsoft-azure-announces-...
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great news, there's also apparently a new line being dragged across from Australia that will land in Southland, will be good to get a direct line to Australia that doesn't need to go via the North Island.
I've seen the proposal for the Southland cable, but as far as I'm aware this is not confirmed yet. Unless you know different?
ahh, you are right, nothing 100% confirmed yet.... fingers crossed though :)
Pretty funny thing, as a person in a start-up in sourth pacific, we host our products in us-east-1 region, even most of our customers are based in NZ and AUS. We only use sydney region as a testing environment.
You don’t explain why but, can we all assume it’s cost?
One reason is cost.
The other i think is the number of services.
If I recall correctly, some dns services are in us east only only u host it in other region.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/r53.html
Name registration is in us east only. DNS resolving is in a few specific regions
If I recall correctly, some dns services are in us east only only u host it in other region.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/r53.html
Name registration is in us east only. DNS resolving is in a few specific regions
Not OP, but that was the reason for various previous employers.
Current employer it's all in ap-southeast-2 because of data sovereignty concerns.
Getting the Melbourne AWS Region up next year[1] will be good for redundancy.
[1] https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/in-the-works-aws-region-in-...
Current employer it's all in ap-southeast-2 because of data sovereignty concerns.
Getting the Melbourne AWS Region up next year[1] will be good for redundancy.
[1] https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/in-the-works-aws-region-in-...
Same, but I try to at least push for us-west region.
Due to costs?
As someone living in Auckland, that's amazing news! I've been waiting for this moment for years. I can't wait to be able to deploy applications which respond with sub 30ms latency, using all the nice AWS services. Soon, a lot of New Zealanders will be able to experience much fasters apps and websites which could've been only built on bespoke VPS/dedicated server providers like SiteHost NZ/etc before.
This reads like an ad. It’s like getting excited for an apartment complex.
You had the capability to build websites for years before now. Just spend the effort to learn how to administer kubernetes.
You had the capability to build websites for years before now. Just spend the effort to learn how to administer kubernetes.
As an Aucklander, I would totally be excited for a new apartment complex!
There are no resources like this that exist in NZ. Bringing server hosting here is super important for data sovereignty and modernising our government tech, and makes it easier for overseas businesses to bring servers here. I’m excited for the possibility of game servers I’ll have less than 80ms to.
What does kubernetes have to do with latency?
Hope they keep the latency less than 20ms, because they're quite bad in Sydney.
I live in an area of New Zealand surrounded by hydroelectric dam's, and I've often thought it would be a great place for a datacenter. They'd be electricity savings from avoiding the transmission losses to get the electricity all the way to Auckland, and land is cheaper, but mainly because there ought to be a way of using the cold water for cooling rather than electrically powered coolers. The data center could even be built underwater, possibly in a canal to benefit from the existing water flow.
The problem is that the underwater cables land in Auckland, and for most applications, lower latency (both to the local populations and to the rest of the world) is a very important consideration.
I did hear that someone is putting in a 10MW cryptocurrecny mining "datacenter" right next to Clyde dam. I'm not exactly happy about that.
I did hear that someone is putting in a 10MW cryptocurrecny mining "datacenter" right next to Clyde dam. I'm not exactly happy about that.
Interesting. Do you know which crypto they will be mining? Is it Chia?
It would be pointless to put Chia mining operation next to a hydro power plant, the entire point is that they use very little electricity.
They haven't even admitted it's crypto.
All that's really known is that it's a 10MW "datacenter", hooked directly into the power plant, in a part of the country without a commercial fibre backbone, and will allegedly be running workloads that can be turned off depending on power demand.
Reading between the lines, that's a crypto mining operation.
They haven't even admitted it's crypto.
All that's really known is that it's a 10MW "datacenter", hooked directly into the power plant, in a part of the country without a commercial fibre backbone, and will allegedly be running workloads that can be turned off depending on power demand.
Reading between the lines, that's a crypto mining operation.
Ahh, you had datacenter in quotation marks, I didn't catch that.
I still like the idea of running a trans-Tasman cable to Southland and building data centres down there when Rio Tinto closes down. Plenty of cheap and green power, and the extra cable would solve the latency issue and provide some extra resiliency for NZ (all international cables currently land in the North Island.)
> Plenty of cheap and green power
Incorrect. All of the hydropower is used as present, so any extra marginal load added to NZ causes extra gas usage (or coal sometimes). If the lakes are full and water is being sent down spillways, then perhaps you can get free power, but that is rare.
Also note that lots of people think transmission losses are heavy, but actually they are less than 10%. For example HVDC transmission losses are ~3% per 1,000km (the DC link from Benmore to Wellington)
Incorrect. All of the hydropower is used as present, so any extra marginal load added to NZ causes extra gas usage (or coal sometimes). If the lakes are full and water is being sent down spillways, then perhaps you can get free power, but that is rare.
Also note that lots of people think transmission losses are heavy, but actually they are less than 10%. For example HVDC transmission losses are ~3% per 1,000km (the DC link from Benmore to Wellington)
Rio Tinto aren’t closing the smelter down. They can’t just shoot people like in other countries so they have to be crafty to get what they want.
The whole “give us cheap power or we close this plant down” is just a genius power play.
People don’t want to be out of jobs and govt want a good excuse to get the deal done. The politicians look like savvy negotiators keeping this massive corporate begging and rio tinto get discount rate power. It’s really a win win ruse for them.
The whole “give us cheap power or we close this plant down” is just a genius power play.
People don’t want to be out of jobs and govt want a good excuse to get the deal done. The politicians look like savvy negotiators keeping this massive corporate begging and rio tinto get discount rate power. It’s really a win win ruse for them.
I guess the ultra rich need to maintain their cloud access from their doomsday bunkers[0]
0. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-...
0. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-...
This is great but I've noticed newer regions do not have feature parity with older ones.
For example, me-south-1 and af-south-1 still do not support AWS DataSync fully automated transfers. When this feature has been announced, it was put into 16 regions. Why not all regions where AWS DataSync is available?
There is more. This is just last example I've noticed.
As a result, when building cross-region service on AWS, it's not enough to just check whether AWS product is available in desired region, you need to check whether every single feature you need within the product is available in desired region too.
For example, me-south-1 and af-south-1 still do not support AWS DataSync fully automated transfers. When this feature has been announced, it was put into 16 regions. Why not all regions where AWS DataSync is available?
There is more. This is just last example I've noticed.
As a result, when building cross-region service on AWS, it's not enough to just check whether AWS product is available in desired region, you need to check whether every single feature you need within the product is available in desired region too.
I work at AWS. Region build is separate process per team and guaranteeing feature parity across all regions is a pretty complex task.
Guessing Weta moving to AWS may have something to do with this.
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/media/weta-digital-goes-all-in-...
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/media/weta-digital-goes-all-in-...
I guess my big question is "will they support F1 instances?" latency to Sydney is a pain
This seems like a fairly direct response to the recent spate of DDoS attacks in NZ. If you cared a lot about data sovereignty you couldn't be in cloud.
Many large NZ orgs were "out in the cold". As everyone else in the world moved under the umbrella of "big cloud" they got more and more tempting as targets.
Many large NZ orgs were "out in the cold". As everyone else in the world moved under the umbrella of "big cloud" they got more and more tempting as targets.
> This seems like a fairly direct response to the recent spate of DDoS attacks in NZ.
If so, they got the plan together rather fast.
If so, they got the plan together rather fast.
Yeah you are right it must be a happy accident of timing. The whole "NZ is highly vulnerable to DDoS" thing has been brewing for a while though.
I was trying to express that there's a level of non-cloud datacenter use in NZ (for data sov reasons) that would seem anachronistic anywhere else and this is closely related to the prevalence of DDoS attacks targeting the country.
I still think it is an interesting dynamic that the effectiveness of big cloud in blunting DDoS pushes risk over to countries with no "in region" facilities.
I was trying to express that there's a level of non-cloud datacenter use in NZ (for data sov reasons) that would seem anachronistic anywhere else and this is closely related to the prevalence of DDoS attacks targeting the country.
I still think it is an interesting dynamic that the effectiveness of big cloud in blunting DDoS pushes risk over to countries with no "in region" facilities.
The Australian city of Perth is further from the current Sydney and Melbourne regions for AWS and Azure than New Zealand is!
Sydney-to-Perth is 3,300 km.
Sydney-to-Auckland is 2,150 km.
Just as how our Kiwi friends are annoyed by high latencies to content served from Australia's east coast, the Aussies in Perth have it even worse.
Not to mention that the fibre doesn't go as the crow flies to Perth. The actual undersea cable length is more like 4,600 km, which is more than double the relatively direct path the fibre takes to Auckland...
All of this pales in comparison to central Africa and all of the former-USSR states, where neither AWS nor Azure have any regions: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regio...
Sydney-to-Perth is 3,300 km.
Sydney-to-Auckland is 2,150 km.
Just as how our Kiwi friends are annoyed by high latencies to content served from Australia's east coast, the Aussies in Perth have it even worse.
Not to mention that the fibre doesn't go as the crow flies to Perth. The actual undersea cable length is more like 4,600 km, which is more than double the relatively direct path the fibre takes to Auckland...
All of this pales in comparison to central Africa and all of the former-USSR states, where neither AWS nor Azure have any regions: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regio...
Content delivery is the province of CDNs, and AWS has a CloudFront POP in Perth[1].
Putting a region into NZ is all about data sovereignty and BS11.
[1] https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/features/
Putting a region into NZ is all about data sovereignty and BS11.
[1] https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/features/
For what it's worth the new "GeForce Now" cloud gaming platform beta will is based in Perth (using the hardware of the local Pentanet internet service provider).
If the beta is a success, I'm sure it will be hosted locally in most capital cities eventually.
If the beta is a success, I'm sure it will be hosted locally in most capital cities eventually.
New Zealand is 5 million people.
There are 80 cities bigger than that - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities
I wonder what the business case is?
There are 80 cities bigger than that - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_cities
I wonder what the business case is?
It seems to be good news for Kiwi expats who wants to go home. Income may shrink (in comparison with US) but quality of life improvement may be significant. However, for those who do not own a residence in Auckland (suffering from even worse housing unaffordability issue than Sydney) may need to move outside of Auckland metro area to get more significant QoL gain.
NOTE: A colleague of mine moved back to Wellington (his home town) from Bay Area at the beginning of 2020. I have done a few Zoom / Facetime catch up with him since, he seems happy, energetic and refreshed (positive), stark contrast to the him back in 2018-2019 (SF / Bay Area). Looking forward to visit NZ once the travel bubble reopens.
NOTE: A colleague of mine moved back to Wellington (his home town) from Bay Area at the beginning of 2020. I have done a few Zoom / Facetime catch up with him since, he seems happy, energetic and refreshed (positive), stark contrast to the him back in 2018-2019 (SF / Bay Area). Looking forward to visit NZ once the travel bubble reopens.
Apart from providing first party service like Prime Video, and second party services like Netflix, Disney, etc...
(and apart from data governance/sovereignty reasons)
might there be any specific industries that they targeting specific to NZ?
Weta comes to mind, but I can only imagine they're a drop in the bucket.
(and apart from data governance/sovereignty reasons)
might there be any specific industries that they targeting specific to NZ?
Weta comes to mind, but I can only imagine they're a drop in the bucket.
NZ resident here and in the tech scene. Here's some speculation:
What I've heard is that the AUS data centres for Azure and AWS have been getting hammered and have been non stop adding servers/capacity. So from perspective it does make sense to move some of that load off to NZ.
Microsoft announced their NZ data centre first, then because of data sovereignty issues you mentioned stands to gain all that business from govt and AWS is now trying to play catchup.
Another big driver is banks, it is a data governance/sovereignty issue but its a little bit more nuanced than at first glance.
In NZ almost all of our largest banks are Australian owned and are running multi-tenanted systems in AU data centres and are heavily invested in cloud.
Our reserve bank has recently made this policy called BS11 requiring banks to bring all there IT systems onshore.
https://www.hcltech.com/blogs/bs11-impacts-and-its-it-implic...
So I suspect both Microsoft and AWS have picked up huge contracts with banks which are subsidising these data centres to save the NZ banks from rewriting a ton of their systems not to use AWS/Azure.
What I've heard is that the AUS data centres for Azure and AWS have been getting hammered and have been non stop adding servers/capacity. So from perspective it does make sense to move some of that load off to NZ.
Microsoft announced their NZ data centre first, then because of data sovereignty issues you mentioned stands to gain all that business from govt and AWS is now trying to play catchup.
Another big driver is banks, it is a data governance/sovereignty issue but its a little bit more nuanced than at first glance.
In NZ almost all of our largest banks are Australian owned and are running multi-tenanted systems in AU data centres and are heavily invested in cloud.
Our reserve bank has recently made this policy called BS11 requiring banks to bring all there IT systems onshore.
https://www.hcltech.com/blogs/bs11-impacts-and-its-it-implic...
So I suspect both Microsoft and AWS have picked up huge contracts with banks which are subsidising these data centres to save the NZ banks from rewriting a ton of their systems not to use AWS/Azure.
Perhaps I just don't understand the scale involved in banking, but I can't imagine that would be enough or even a substantial part of the driving force. I would think that a new region in AUS an or expansion of the current AUS one would have been a more prudent choice.
Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that NZ has 2/3 of the cloud providers setting up shop. NZ and NZ-ers often times punch way above their weight and I imagine this decision will only lower the barrier for many of those resourceful entrepreneurs.
This combined with fiber rollout and starlink availability is really going to do wonders for NZ.
Whatever the reason, it's exciting.
Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that NZ has 2/3 of the cloud providers setting up shop. NZ and NZ-ers often times punch way above their weight and I imagine this decision will only lower the barrier for many of those resourceful entrepreneurs.
This combined with fiber rollout and starlink availability is really going to do wonders for NZ.
Whatever the reason, it's exciting.
Their Cloudfront CDN has been present in New Zealand since late last year.
It's not just customers in NZ profiting from this, you will now have a disaster recovery region for Australia.
It's not just customers in NZ profiting from this, you will now have a disaster recovery region for Australia.