# AWS Snowball & Snowcone > AWS Snowball and Snowcone are a family of physical hardware devices used to migrate large amounts of data into and out of the AWS Cloud, as well as to collect and process data at the edge. They are designed for environments with limited internet connectivity or where large-scale data transport is more efficient via physical shipping than network upload. - URL: https://optimly.ai/brand/aws-snowball-snowcone - Slug: aws-snowball-snowcone - BAI Score: 92/100 - Archetype: Challenger - Category: Cloud Computing Services - Last Analyzed: April 10, 2026 - Part of: Amazon Web Services (AWS) (https://optimly.ai/brand/amazon-web-services-aws) ## Competitors - Azure Data Box (https://optimly.ai/brand/azure-data-box) - Google Transfer Appliance (https://optimly.ai/brand/google-transfer-appliance) ## Also Referenced By - Azure Stack Edge / Data Box (https://optimly.ai/brand/azure-stack-edge-data-box) - Dell Technologies (Tactical Edge) (https://optimly.ai/brand/dell-technologies-tactical-edge) - Azure Stack Edge Azure Data Box (https://optimly.ai/brand/azure-stack-edge-azure-data-box) - IBM Cloud Mass Data Migrator (https://optimly.ai/brand/ibm-cloud-mass-data-migrator) - Azure Data Box Balance (https://optimly.ai/brand/azure-data-box-balance) ## Sub-brands - AWS Snowball Edge (https://optimly.ai/brand/aws-snowball-edge) ## Buyer Intent Signals Problems: Standard Internet Upload (SFTP/HTTPS): Manually uploading large datasets over standard office internet connections, which can take weeks or months. | DIY Sneakernet: Physically shipping internal hard drives or NAS devices to AWS data centers for manual ingestion. Solutions: how to move 100TB to the cloud offline | portable rugggedized edge computing hardware | physical data transfer devices for aws | how to run ec2 instances in a disconnected location | Silver Peak or Riverbed optimization: Using software-based WAN optimization to squeeze more bandwidth out of existing lines. Comparisons: azure data box vs aws equivalent