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In this lesson we focus on AWS Snowcone and how it fits into the AWS Snow Family—particularly the compute capabilities these rugged devices provide in addition to their primary role as physical data-transfer appliances. Transferring terabytes or petabytes over the public internet can be slow, costly, or impractical. Snow Family devices let AWS ship a physical appliance to your location so you can copy large datasets locally, return the device to AWS, and have AWS import the data directly into your account. After import, the device is securely wiped. This article emphasizes the compute-related features and typical workflows for Snow devices (Snowcone and Snowball Edge), while the Snow Family’s broader migration and storage topics are covered elsewhere. How the Snow Family workflow typically works:
  1. Order a Snow device (for example, Snowcone or Snowball Edge).
  2. AWS ships the device to your location.
  3. Configure the device and copy your local data to it.
  4. Ship the device back to AWS for ingestion.
  5. AWS imports the data into your account and securely wipes the device.
Although many Snow products are optimized for data transfer, Snowball Edge and Snowcone also include processors that let you run workloads at the edge—such as Lambda functions, Greengrass components, or local EC2 instances (on Snowball Edge). Running compute locally enables preprocessing, filtering, or analysis before data is transferred to AWS, reducing data volume and improving responsiveness for local systems. Why run compute on a Snow device?
  • Ruggedness and portability: Built to endure extreme temperatures, dust, humidity, and physical shock—suitable for harsh or mobile environments where standard servers are impractical.
  • Local processing and reduced transfer: Preprocess, encrypt, analyze, or filter data at the edge to reduce the amount and cost of data transferred to AWS.
  • Offline and remote use cases: Useful on construction sites, ships, remote research stations, or other locations with intermittent or no connectivity.
  • Integrated security: Hardware-based root of trust (TPM) and encryption integrated with AWS Key Management Service (KMS).
  • Flexibility: Can run AWS IoT Greengrass components, Lambda functions, and containerized workloads depending on the model.
A slide titled "The Snow Family" showing two green circular icons (a ship and a windmill) connected by lines to an AWS Cloud box that lists AWS Snowball Edge and AWS Snowcone with their icons. Arrows indicate data flow from the ship and windmill into the Snow family devices.
Snow devices commonly run:
  • AWS IoT Greengrass components for local messaging and management.
  • Lambda functions (deployed via Greengrass) for event-driven processing at the edge.
  • Local EC2 instances and accelerated compute on Snowball Edge (for higher compute needs).
Snowcone overview
  • Portability: Extremely compact and lightweight (approximately 4.5 lb; ~9 in × 6 in × 3 in), designed for easy transport.
  • Storage: Around 8 TB of usable storage (exact capacities vary by model).
  • Rugged design: Dust-tight and water-resistant to withstand field conditions near deserts, oceans, and other harsh environments.
  • Security: Built-in encryption integrated with AWS KMS and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for hardware-based root of trust.
  • Compute: Supports edge compute via AWS IoT Greengrass—run Lambda functions and containerized workloads for local processing and analysis.
A slide titled "Snowcone" with a green device icon in the center and text describing security features (AWS KMS encryption and TPM) and compute capabilities for running edge workloads.
Summary of key Snowcone features:
  • Edge computing: Run local workloads close to the data source to reduce latency.
  • Data migration: Collect, transport, and import large datasets into AWS securely.
  • Ruggedness: Built for operation in remote and harsh environments.
  • Security: Hardware TPM and AWS KMS integration provide robust encryption and device identity.
  • Portability: Small, lightweight form factor for field use and mobile workflows.
When to choose Snowcone vs. Snowball Edge
Snowcone is the smallest, most portable Snow device—ideal for highly remote or mobile operations. If you require greater storage, full EC2 instance support, or GPU/accelerated compute, evaluate Snowball Edge models instead.
Further reading and references:

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