Amazon Web Services has opened AWS Data Transfer Terminals in Los Angeles and New York. These secure physical locations allow customers to bring their storage devices for fast uploads to the AWS Cloud. The enterprise service can significantly reduce data ingestion time for use cases including uploads of “large datasets from fleets of vehicles collecting data in metro areas for training machine learning models” as well as “digital audio and video files from content creators for media processing workloads” and local government organizations compiling geographical and other smart city data.

The Data Transfer Terminals upload to Amazon Cloud public endpoints including Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS), among others, according to an AWS blog post.

The announcement was made at Amazon’s re:Invent 2024 conference in Las Vegas (with key sessions available free, on demand). The company says it “plans to add more locations globally,” but did not share that timeline.

Those with AWS accounts can locate an AWS Data Transfer Terminal and make a reservation to visit using the AWS Management Console. Customers will be able to connect their storage to an S3 bucket, initiate transfer and validate the data transfer is complete.

“You can also bring your AWS Snowball devices to the location for upload and retain the device for continued use and not rely on traditional shipping methods,” the company explains.

The pricing starts at $300 per hour for data uploaded in the U.S. for use in the U.S., according to the AWS Data Transfer Terminal price page. U.S. to Europe will cost $500 per hour.

ITPro lists the transfer speed at “up to 400Gbps.” Amazon says there will be no additional per GB charge for the data transfer if you upload data in an AWS Region in the same continent of your location.

“Each location is equipped with a patch panel, fiber optic cable, and a PC for monitoring data transfer jobs,” TechCrunch writes, explaining in detail what to expect during a visit.