Apple developers can now natively run macOS in AWS with Amazon EC2 Mac instances

As AWS re: Invent kicks off, Amazon Web Services today announced new Mac instances for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, enabling AWS customers to run macOS workloads on demand in the AWS Cloud for the first time. .

Amazon says the new feature extends the flexibility, scalability, and financial benefits of AWS to all Apple developers, as those who build apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Safari are able to provision and access macOS environments in seconds. and take advantage of AWS pay-as-you-go pricing.

AWS customers are also able to consolidate Apple, Windows, and Android cross-platform application development on AWS, and as with other Amazon EC2 instances, customers can use EC2 Mac instances with AWS services and features like Amazon Virtual Private Cloud, Amazon Elastic Block Storage, Amazon Machine Images, and more.

In a statement, Apple’s vice president of global product marketing Bob Borchers said Apple was “excited” to make the development of Apple’s platforms accessible “in new ways.”

“Apple’s thriving community of more than 28 million developers continues to create revolutionary app experiences that delight customers around the world. With the launch of EC2 Mac instances, we are excited to make development of Apple platforms accessible in new ways and to combine the performance and reliability of our world-class hardware with the scalability of AWS. “

Amazon EC2 vice president at AWS David Brown said developers can focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.

“Our customers tell us that they would like their Apple build environment to be integrated with AWS services. With Mac EC2 instances, developers can now provision and access on-demand macOS compute environments in AWS for the very first time, so they can focus on building breakthrough applications for leading platforms. from Apple, rather than sourcing and managing the underlying infrastructure. “

The new EC2 Mac instances are powered by Intel-based Mac mini machines with 3.2 GHz processors and 32 GB of RAM, as well as the AWS Nitro system for 10 Gb / s VPC network bandwidth and 8 Gb / s storage bandwidth.

EC2 Mac instances can be purchased on demand or with savings plans and are now available in the US East (Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), Europe (Ireland), and Asia Pacific regions (Singapore).