AWS Updates - 2026-01-13
AWS What's New
Amazon MSK Connect is now available in three additional AWS Regions
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/amazon-msk-connect-additional-aws-regions
- Published: 2026-01-13
Amazon MSK Connect is now available in three additional AWS Regions: Asia Pacific (New Zealand), AWS GovCloud (US-East), and AWS GovCloud (US-West).
MSK Connect enables you to run fully managed Kafka Connect clusters with Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK). With a few clicks, MSK Connect allows you to easily deploy, monitor, and scale connectors that move data in and out of Apache Kafka and Amazon MSK clusters from external systems such as databases, file systems, and search indices. MSK Connect eliminates the need to provision and maintain cluster infrastructure. Connectors scale automatically in response to increases in usage and you pay only for the resources you use. With full compatibility with Kafka Connect, it is easy to migrate workloads without code changes. MSK Connect will support both Amazon MSK-managed and self-managed Apache Kafka clusters.
You can get started with MSK Connect from the Amazon MSK console or the Amazon CLI. With this launch, MSK Connect is now available in thirty eight AWS Regions. To get started visit, the MSK Connect product page, pricing page, and the Amazon MSK Developer Guide.
Amazon Neptune Database now supports R7g and R8g instances in 5 additional regions
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/amazon-neptune-database-r7g-r8g-additional-regions
- Published: 2026-01-13
Amazon Neptune Database now supports Graviton3-based R7g and Graviton4-based R8g instances for Amazon Neptune engine versions 1.4.5 or above, in Asia Pacific (Hong Kong), Asia Pacific (Osaka), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Canada (Central) and US West (N. California). R7g and R8g instances are priced -16% vs R6g.
Graviton3-based R7g are the first AWS database instances to feature the latest DDR5 memory, enabling high-speed access to data in memory. R7g database instances offer up to 30Gbps enhanced networking bandwidth and up to 20 Gbps of bandwidth to the Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS). Graviton4-based R8g instances offer larger instance sizes, up to 48xlarge and features an 8:1 ratio of memory to vCPU, and the latest DDR5 memory. AWS Graviton4 processors are up to 40% faster for databases than AWS Graviton3 processors.
You can launch R7g and R8g instances for Neptune using the AWS Management Console or using the AWS CLI. Upgrading a Neptune cluster to R7g or R8g instances requires a simple instance type modification for Neptune engine versions 1.4.5 or higher. For more information on pricing and regional availability, refer to the Amazon Neptune pricing page.
Amazon EC2 X8aedz instances are now available in Asia Pacific (Mumbai, Seoul) regions
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/amazon-ec2-x8aedz-instances-asia-pacific-mumbai-seoul-regions
- Published: 2026-01-13
Starting today, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) X8aedz instances are available in Asia Pacific (Mumbai) and Asia Pacific (Seoul) regions. These instances are powered by 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors (formerly code named Turin). These instances offer the highest maximum CPU frequency, 5GHz in the cloud.
X8aedz instances are built using the latest sixth generation AWS Nitro Cards and are ideal for electronic design automation (EDA) workloads such as physical layout and physical verification jobs, and relational databases that benefit from high single-threaded processor performance and a large memory footprint. The combination of 5 GHz processors and local NVMe storage enables faster processing of memory-intensive backend EDA workloads such as floor planning, logic placement, clock tree synthesis (CTS), routing, and power/signal integrity analysis.
X8aedz instances feature a 32:1 ratio of memory to vCPU and are available in 8 sizes ranging from 2 to 96 vCPUs with 64 to 3,072 GiB of memory, including two bare metal variants, and up to 8 TB of local NVMe SSD storage.
Customers can purchase X8aedz instances via Savings Plans, On-Demand instances, and Spot instances. To get started, sign in to the AWS Management Console. For more information visit the Amazon EC2 X8aedz instance page.
Amazon Connect Cases now supports AWS CloudFormation
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/amazon-connect-cases-aws-cloudformation/
- Published: 2026-01-13
Amazon Connect Cases now supports AWS CloudFormation, enabling you to model, provision, and manage case resources as infrastructure as code. With this launch, administrators can create CloudFormation templates to programmatically deploy and update their Cases configuration—such as templates, fields, and layouts—across Amazon Connect instances, reducing manual setup time and minimizing configuration errors.
Amazon Connect Cases is available in the following AWS Regions: US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), Canada (Central), Europe (Frankfurt), Europe (London), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Africa (Cape Town). To learn more and get started, visit the Amazon Connect Cases webpage and documentation.
Amazon Lex launches improved speech recognition models for English
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/01/amazon-lex-improved-speech-recognition-models-english
- Published: 2026-01-13
Amazon Lex now offers a neural automatic speech recognition (ASR) model for English that delivers improved recognition accuracy for your voice bots. Trained on data from multiple English locales, the model excels at recognizing conversational speech patterns across diverse speaking styles, including non-native English speakers and regional accents. This reduces the need for end-customers to repeat themselves and improves self-service success rates. To enable this feature, select "Neural" as the speech recognition option in your bot's locale settings.
This feature is available in all AWS commercial regions where Amazon Connect and Lex operate. To learn more, visit the Amazon Lex documentation or explore the Amazon Connect website to learn how Amazon Connect and Amazon Lex deliver seamless end-customer self-service experiences.
AWS Security Blog
Fall 2025 PCI DSS compliance package available now
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/fall-2025-pci-dss-compliance-package-available-now/
- Published: 2026-01-13
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is pleased to announce that two additional AWS services and one additional AWS Region have been added to the scope of our Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification: Newly added services: AWS Security Incident Response AWS Transform Newly added AWS Region: Asia Pacific (Taipei) This certification allows customers […]
Streamline security response at scale with AWS Security Hub automation
- Link: https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/security/streamline-security-response-at-scale-with-aws-security-hub-automation/
- Published: 2026-01-13
A new version of AWS Security Hub, is now generally available, introducing new ways for organizations to manage and respond to security findings. The enhanced Security Hub helps you improve your organization’s security posture and simplify cloud security operations by centralizing security management across your Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment. The new Security Hub transforms […]