The New AWS Public Monitoring Agent: AWS Canada West

Exciting news is on the horizon!

We're stoked to share that Obkio’s new AWS - Canada West Public Monitoring Agent is now live! Just a month after AWS announced its first-ever data center in Western Canada (and second in Canada), Obkio has launched a brand new Monitoring Agent, allowing current and future customers to monitor network performance from their network locations up to the AWS infrastructure in Calgary.

Whether you're a developer, startup, entrepreneur, or big-shot enterprise, you've got a front-row seat to some seriously cool perks. Thanks to AWS setting up camp in Calgary, you're looking at better network performance, increased resilience, and top-notch data storage right in Western Canada.

On December 20th, 2022, AWS (Amazon Web Services) announced their first data center in the Western Canada (Calgary) Region, making this their second ever in Canada (after their Montreal location).

Since 2006, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. This announcement now marks AWS as the first major cloud services provider to have an infrastructure region in Western Canada

AWS Canada West in Calgary offers AWS customers increased choices for running workloads with enhanced resilience and availability. It allows secure data storage within Canada, offering lower latency nationwide for enhanced productivity, streamlined business operations, and improved real-time application performance.

Customers can leverage the AWS Canada West (Calgary) Region alongside the AWS Canada (Central) Region for applications like disaster recovery, ensuring mission-critical operations benefit from elevated resilience and availability across multiple AWS Regions in Canada.

So what does this mean for Obkio? Well, it means more network visibility for current and future customers!

Obkio’s AWS Monitoring Agents are hosted and maintained by Obkio in the AWS cloud infrastructure, meaning they can be deployed within seconds. Obkio currently has 11 AWS Agents deployed in multiple countries, with the newest being AWS - Canada West (Calgary) - only a month after AWS deployed their infrastructure in Western Canada.

They allow users to proactively monitor network performance between their standard Agents (in offices, data centers, remote locations, the Internet etc.) and AWS Monitoring Agents right to Amazon Web Services.

With complete and continuous visibility, users can easily identify the source and cause of a network issue for AWS applications like AWS Direct Connect, Zoom, Amazon Chime and more.

AWS and Obkio are a match made in heaven. AWS offers top-notch cloud capabilities, and Obkio’s Network Performance Monitoring solution gives you the visibility you need to monitor the performance and reliability of those services.

From cutting down on lag to keeping things compliant, Obkio’s AWS Canada (Calgary) Monitoring Agent offers a variety of benefits for current and future customers looking to monitor network performance from that region.

• Reduced Latency: Placing the monitoring agent closer to users in Western Canada minimizes latency in data collection. Lower latency ensures more accurate and real-time measurements of network performance.
• Improved Accuracy: The AWS Canada West Agent allows for more precise measurements of network latency, packet loss, and other performance metrics for locations in that region. This accuracy is crucial for identifying and addressing issues promptly.
• Enhanced Reliability: The new AWS Agent reduces the dependency on long-distance connections, making the monitoring process more reliable for users around Western Canada. It also reduces the likelihood of disruptions caused by external factors.
• Optimized Bandwidth Usage: A local Western Canada monitoring agent helps optimize bandwidth usage since it can efficiently monitor network traffic within the region without unnecessary data transfers across long distances.
• Compliance with Data Residency Requirements: Hosting the monitoring agent in the same region ensures compliance with data residency regulations, which may require sensitive data to be stored and processed within specific geographic boundaries.
• Faster Response Times: In case of network issues, a monitoring agent near Canada West network locations allows for faster detection and response times. This can be critical in maintaining the overall health and performance of the network.
• Monitoring AWS Services: The AWS Canada West Agent allows users to efficiently monitor the performance of AWS services hosted in Western Canada, offering insights into the health and efficiency of services such as Zoom, Direct Connect, S3 storage, RDS databases, and more.

Overall, Obkio’s AWS Western Canada ensures that network monitoring is optimized for the specific conditions and requirements of users in that geographic area, leading to more effective and responsive network management.

As data protection laws take center stage, AWS’ new infrastructure location in Western Canada presents a solution for organizations under PIPEDA. This local infrastructure aligns with Canadian regulations, serving as a pre-established compliance mechanism and mitigating the risks associated with the U.S. Patriot Act.

Additionally, the geographic location of data storage is significant for Canadian users, with concerns about data privacy in the U.S. Choosing an AWS system in Canada, especially with the new infrastructure, not only ensures regulatory compliance but also addresses user concerns, reinforcing the importance of hosting data in a location that aligns with their privacy expectations.

As an organization venturing into outsourcing arrangements, the pressure is on you to safeguard information at every step. It's not just about the transfer of data across borders; you must ensure that any third party handling the information adheres to standards equivalent to those laid out by PIPEDA.

Failure to guarantee this alignment with data protection standards places your organization on shaky ground, potentially exposing it to noncompliance risks. One critical consideration in this landscape is the U.S. Patriot Act, which grants the U.S. government access to and surveillance capabilities over information stored within its borders. This directly conflicts with Canada's Personal Information Protection Act, which explicitly prohibits unauthorized data disclosure.

While exceptions exist within these regulations, establishing a comprehensive framework to adhere to PIPEDA requirements can be both costly and time-consuming. A more streamlined alternative is opting for an AWS system based in Canada that inherently aligns with these regulatory frameworks, providing a pre-established compliance mechanism for your data.

Beyond regulatory compliance, the geographic location of data storage holds significant weight for Canadian customers. Nearly 70% of Canadians express concerns about data privacy and security when stored in the U.S. In essence, where you choose to host your data becomes a pivotal factor for the peace of mind of Canadian users.

If you find yourself in Western Canada and are seeking a more efficient solution to monitor your network performance, we have exciting news for both new and existing customers.

Obkio's new monitoring agent in AWS Canada West (Calgary) marks a significant leap in enhancing network performance monitoring for users in Western Canada. With reduced latency, improved accuracy, and a focus on optimizing the monitoring experience for local AWS services, businesses can now achieve heightened reliability and responsiveness in managing their networks.

Networks may be complex. But Obkio makes network monitoring easy. Monitor, measure, pinpoint, troubleshoot, and solve network problems.

• 14-day free trial of all premium features
• Deploy in just 10 minutes
• Monitor performance in all key network locations
• Measure real-time network metrics
• Identify and troubleshoot live network problems