Amazon Web Services, the backbone of many websites and apps, suffered a major disruption in the US and in some other parts of the world on Wednesday, disrupting millions of online platforms.
The latest failure hit AWS just a week after the company suffered a major outage that knocked hundreds of websites offline in one of the worst breakdowns the company has faced.
The National looks at the possible snags causing the frequent blackouts and explores the potential solution.
What is AWS?
AWS is one of the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platforms that offers more than200 services from data centres globally. It stores its customers’ data, runs their online operations and helps them to lower overall business costs, thereby becoming more agile and able to innovate faster.
AWS – which competes with the likes of Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud and others – has 84 data centres in 26 locations around the world. It plans to launch 24 more data centres in Australia, India, Canada, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand and the UAE in the coming months.
What caused the outage?
The disruption, which lasted more than 90 minutes, was a result of a technical error that sent huge loads of data to the core network. It is still not clear whether it was a human mistake or a technology glitch.
The issue was caused by “network congestion” between parts of the AWS platform and the internet service providers.
“Traffic engineering incorrectly moved more traffic than expected to parts of the AWS backbone that affected connectivity to a subset of internet destinations,” AWS said.
The company said the issue has been resolved and it does not expect a recurrence.
What led to AWS failing?
In the past, industry experts cautioned against the presence of only a handful of companies in the burgeoning cloud market.
The latest AWS crash is a “prime example” of the threat of centralised network infrastructure, said Sean O’Brien, a visiting lecturer in cyber security at Yale Law School.
There is a need for businesses to adopt multi-cloud strategies – using services across different cloud computing providers – and reduce their reliance on a single service provider to ensure a single outage does not close their operations in one go.
Forrester analyst Brent Ellis said a multi-cloud strategy will help companies side-step big web outages.
“It’s a decision large enterprises have to make or they’ll inevitably be in a situation where they’re down for several hours,” he told Bloomberg.
How big is AWS?
AWS posted more than 38 per cent annual growth in revenue in the third quarter that ended on September 30. It earned $16.1 billion, accounting for almost 15 per cent of the parent company Amazon’s overall sales in the three-month period.
In the last financial year, the cloud computing platform generated sales worth $45.4bn, almost 12 per cent of the company's total revenue of more than $386bn.
It captured about one third of the $152bn cloud services market, securing a bigger cut than Microsoft and Google combined, according to a report from the Synergy Research Group.
Has AWS crashed before?
A major interruption hit Amazon’s cloud services on December 7, temporarily knocking out streaming platforms Netflix and Disney+, Robinhood, a wide range of apps and Amazon's e-commerce website. The company said it was probably caused by issues related to the application programming interface, a set of protocols for building and integrating application software.
The Seattle-based company also faced a multi-hour blackout in November last year that affected a large portion of the internet.
There have been outages involving other technology companies as well.
It October, Meta – previously known as Facebook – suffered a nearly six-hour breakdown – along with its associated services WhatsApp and Instagram.
In June, American cloud computing services provider Fastly went down, which affected websites including Amazon, Reddit, The New York Times and the UK government website.
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
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• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
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Results
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
match info
Manchester United 3 (Martial 7', 44', 74')
Sheffield United 0
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance: the specs
Engine: 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plus rear-mounted electric motor
Power: 843hp at N/A rpm
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The five new places of worship
Church of South Indian Parish
St Andrew's Church Mussaffah branch
St Andrew's Church Al Ain branch
St John's Baptist Church, Ruwais
Church of the Virgin Mary and St Paul the Apostle, Ruwais
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
BMW M5 specs
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Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BeIN Sports currently has the rights to show
- Champions League
- English Premier League
- Spanish Primera Liga
- Italian, French and Scottish leagues
- Wimbledon and other tennis majors
- Formula One
- Rugby Union - Six Nations and European Cups
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
A4 35 TFSI
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A4 S4 TDI
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Transmission: eight-speed PDK automatic
Power: 350bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh165,000 (estimate)
On sale: First Q 2020
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
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Company%20profile
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- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
