AWS Snowcone Now Available

by Lyle Smith June 19, 2020

written by Lyle Smith June 19, 2020

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced AWS Snowcone, a unique ultra-portable, secure edge computing and data transfer device. Snowcone weighs in at just under 5lbs and is the smallest member of the AWS Snow family, allowing customers to process stored data locally then ship it to AWS or online via the AWS DataSync. AWS Snowcone also features a rugged design and can withstand harsh conditions and environments beyond traditional data centers including healthcare, industrial IoT, drones, tactical edge computing, content distribution, data migration, video content creation, and transportation.

AWS Snowcone

AWS Snowcone is considered a military-grade secure device. For example, it meets a range of strict ruggedization standards (ISTA-3A, ASTM D4169, and MIL-STD-810G standards) for free-fall shock and operational vibration and is dust-tight and water resistant (IP65 International Protection Marking IEC standard). It can also operate in temperature ranges, from freezing (32F) to desert-like conditions (100F), and withstands more extreme temperatures when in storage or being shipped (-25.6F to 145.4F). This makes it ideal for oil rigs, first responder vehicles, military operations, factory floors, remote offices, hospitals, or movie theaters. Moreover, it supports AWS IoT Greengrass and can run Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, allowing it to be used as an IoT hub, data aggregation point, application monitor, or lightweight analytics engine.

Measuring in at 9 inches x 6 inches x 3 inches at 4.5 lbs, this compact device fits in a backpack, standard mailbox, and is light enough to be carried by drone. As we indicated above, Snowcone can move data to AWS offline by shipping the device (using its E Ink shipping label) as well as online using Ethernet or Wi-Fi via AWS DataSync, both of which are integrated into the device out of the box. Under the hood, the AWS Snowcone is outfitted with two CPUs, 4GB of memory, 8TB of storage, and USB-C power (or optional battery).

Snowcone also features a range of security measures, as all data is encrypted using military-grade 256-bit keys that customers can manage using the AWS Key Management Service (KMS). In addition, it has anti-tamper and tamper-evident features, which helps ensure the device stays secure during transit.