AWS Intercontinental Cloud Backbone
Global private fiber network interconnecting AWS regions across continents on redundant 100GbE and 400GbE paths
Open it on the earth: cut a link, lose a siteWorkbook (DC Sim template v1.4)
The story
Amazon Web Services operates a purpose-built global network backbone connecting cloud regions across the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Oceania. Inter-region traffic stays on Amazon's private fiber infrastructure rather than the public Internet, encrypting automatically across all trans-oceanic and terrestrial links. Anchored by hyperscale clusters in Northern Virginia, Oregon, Dublin, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, and São Paulo, the network utilizes redundant 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps wavelength paths over consortium cables and private dark fiber.
Notable
- Interconnects dozens of AWS cloud regions worldwide over privately owned and leased subsea and terrestrial fiber.
- Operates dedicated trans-oceanic cables including investments in Hawaiki, Jupiter, and trans-Atlantic capacity.
- All inter-region traffic encrypts automatically at the physical network layer before leaving AWS facilities.
- Transports millions of requests per second between continental clusters with customized network monitoring.
Sites
| Code | Place | Role | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| IAD | Ashburn (us-east-1), United States | primary | AWS |
| PDX | Boardman (us-west-2), United States | primary | AWS |
| DUB | Dublin (eu-west-1), Ireland | primary | AWS |
| FRA | Frankfurt (eu-central-1), Germany | primary | AWS |
| NRT | Tokyo (ap-northeast-1), Japan | primary | AWS |
| SIN | Singapore (ap-southeast-1), Singapore | primary | AWS |
| SYD | Sydney (ap-southeast-2), Australia | primary | AWS |
| GRU | São Paulo (sa-east-1), Brazil | primary | AWS |
Links
| From | To | Type | Capacity | Length | Year | Protected | Est. one-way latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAD | PDX | backbone | 10,000 Gbps | ≈ 3,503 km (great circle) | — | yes | 65 ms |
| IAD | DUB | submarine | 10,000 Gbps | ≈ 5,461 km (great circle) | — | yes | 68 ms |
| DUB | FRA | terrestrial | 10,000 Gbps | ≈ 1,088 km (great circle) | — | yes | 18 ms |
| PDX | NRT | submarine | 8,000 Gbps | ≈ 7,974 km (great circle) | — | yes | 82 ms |
| NRT | SIN | submarine | 8,000 Gbps | ≈ 5,311 km (great circle) | — | yes | 62 ms |
| SIN | SYD | submarine | 6,000 Gbps | ≈ 6,306 km (great circle) | — | yes | 92 ms |
| IAD | GRU | submarine | 6,000 Gbps | ≈ 7,665 km (great circle) | — | yes | 105 ms |
Latency marked ≈ is our estimate from the great-circle distance × 1.5 at 5 µs per km, not the operator's figure.
Sources
- AWS Global Infrastructure Map and Network · Amazon Web Services · 2024-01-01
- AWS Global Cloud Network Backbone · Amazon Web Services · 2024-06-01
Part of the open famous data centers dataset (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-10-15.
What is AWS Intercontinental Cloud Backbone famous for?
Global private fiber network interconnecting AWS regions across continents on redundant 100GbE and 400GbE paths
How many sites and links does AWS Intercontinental Cloud Backbone have in this dataset?
8 sites and 7 links, of which 0 are recorded as not protected. Figures are from the public sources listed on the page.
Who operates AWS Intercontinental Cloud Backbone?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)