Tech Talk: Outage shows how Amazon’s complex cloud makes backup plans difficult – Gulf Digital News

Tech Talk: Outage shows how Amazon’s complex cloud makes backup plans difficult – Gulf Digital News

Major companies using Amazon.com's data services got a painful lesson this week about how the complexity and market dominance of the company's cloud unit make it difficult to back up their data with other providers, analysts and experts told Reuters.

Amazon said that an "an impairment of several network devices" in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) Virginia data centre region caused the prolonged outage on Tuesday. The outage temporarily interrupted streaming platforms Netflix Inc and Disney+, trading app Robinhood Markets Inc and even Amazon's own e-commerce site, which makes heavy use of AWS.

An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that the issues had been resolved.

The huge trail of damage from a network problem at a single region that AWS calls "US-EAST-1" underscored how difficult it is for companies to spread their cloud computing around.

With 24.1% of the overall market, according to research firm IDC, Amazon is the world's biggest cloud computing firm. Rivals like Microsoft Corp, Alphabet's Google Inc and Oracle Corp are trying to lure AWS customers to use parts of their clouds, often as a backup.

But crafting a complex online service that can be easily shifted from one provider to another in case of emergency is far from