This week AWS announced the upcoming limited preview of its China Region. This will be the fourth AWS Region in Asia Pacific and the tenth Region globally.  The international presence is helpful in obtaining business for AWS customers who need global public cloud support.

“In the limited preview, which will be deployed in early 2014, a select group of China-based and multinational companies with customers in China will be invited to begin using AWS Cloud services in the AWS China Region to build their businesses and run their applications in the cloud.”

The growth of cloud computing in China has been brisk.  However, deploying any type of Internet presence there can be problematic, considering the political environment.  The ability to provide support in the China region will give AWS a much-needed check mark and another key differentiator.

Almost all Global 2000 companies do business in China, and the ability to access core cloud services to support business applications will add a huge value to Global 200 enterprises that want to leverage public clouds.  Public clouds that are not in China will need to provide a similar presence there as well.