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world’s largest cloud computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), is experienced a major disruption It has affected thousands of organizations, including banks, financial software platforms like Xero, and social media platforms like Snapchat.
The cuts started from Monday. This was caused by a malfunction One of the AWS data centers Located in Northern Virginia United States of AmericaAWS says it has fixed the underlying issue but some Internet users are still reporting service disruptions.
The incident highlights the vulnerabilities of relying so heavily on cloud computing – or “the cloud” as it is often called. But there are ways to reduce some of the risks.
IT infrastructure rental
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of diverse IT resources such as computing power, database storage, and applications over the Internet. In simple terms, it is renting (not owning) your own IT infrastructure.
Cloud computing came into vogue in the late 1990s with the dot com boom, in which digital tech companies began distributing software over the Internet. companies like Amazon As they matured in their ability to offer “software as a service” on the Web, they also began offering others the ability to rent their virtual servers at cost.
It was an attractive value proposition. Cloud computing enables a pay-as-you-go model, similar to a utility bill, rather than the huge upfront investment required to buy, operate, and manage your own data center.
As a result, the latest statistics show that more than 94% of enterprises use some form of cloud-based services.
Three companies dominate a market
Three companies dominate the global cloud market. AWS has the largest share (about 30%). This is followed by Microsoft Azure (about 20%) and Google Cloud Platform (about 13%).
All three service providers have recently experienced disruptions, significantly impacting digital service platforms. For example, in 2024, an issue with third-party software seriously impacted Microsoft Azure, causing widespread operational failures for businesses globally.
Google Cloud Platform also experienced a major disruption this year due to internal misconfiguration.
deep risk
The global Internet’s heavy reliance on just a few major providers – AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud – creates profound risks for both businesses and everyday users.
First, it creates concentration single point of failureAs seen in the latest AWS event, a simple configuration error in a central system can trigger a domino effect that instantly paralyzes vast segments of the Internet.
Second, these providers often impose vendor lock-inCompanies find it extremely difficult and expensive to switch platforms due to complex data architecture and extremely high charges (data exit costs) for moving large amounts of data from the cloud. This effectively traps customers, and makes them hostage to the terms of a single seller.
About the author
Jongkil Jae Jeong is a Senior Fellow in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne.
This article is republished from Conversation Under Creative Commons license. read the original article,
Finally, dominance of US-based cloud service providers is established Geopolitical and regulatory risksData stored in these massive systems is subject to US laws and government demands, which can complicate compliance with international data sovereignty regulations such as Australia’s Privacy Act.
Furthermore, these companies have the power to censor or restrict access to services, giving them control over the companies’ operations.
The current best practice to mitigate these risks is to adopt a multi-cloud approach that enables you to decentralize. This involves running critical applications across multiple vendors to eliminate a single point of failure.
This approach can be complemented by what is known as “edge computing”, in which data storage and processing is moved away from large, central data centers, toward smaller, distributed nodes (such as local servers) that companies can directly control.
The combination of edge computing and a multi-cloud approach increases flexibility, improves speed, and helps companies meet strict data regulatory requirements while avoiding dependency on any single entity.
As the old saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.