palaniappan p4 min
Hybrid & Edge on AWS (2026): Outposts vs Local Zones vs Wavelength — Placement, Connectivity, and the Latency Bill
A composite fintech API (~8ms p99 to metro users) spent ~$14k/mo on an Outposts rack before moving read-heavy paths to a Chicago Local Zone and keeping Outposts only for card-PIN HSM proximity — p99 held at 9ms, hybrid infra dropped ~38%. This is placement and connectivity, not EC2-vs-Lambda unit economics.