Numerous software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers have reported significant service slowdowns and even service interruptions due to an 'ongoing global outage' impacting Amazon Web Services (AWS). Even companies like Xero and Melio have reported such delays, including the inability of their customers to access accounts, information, or software resources.
While Amazon has reported that its platform is now "back to normal," the outage clearly caused turmoil for thousands of SaaS providers and their customers. While you may or may not have experienced issues with your everyday business software apps due to this problem, it impacted hundreds of thousands (or more) computer users worldwide.
It reportedly originated right here in the U.S., even though it ultimately created somewhat of a domino effect before the recovery began. For some reason, financial platforms were among those most impacted by the AWS debacle.
It's times like these when you ask yourself, "Has the Internet grown too big too fast?" Or you might wonder, "Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) putting too much demand on Internet hosting companies and stressing the system?"
Both are good questions. Clearly, cloud computing, storage, and connectivity services offered by these 'cloud provider giants' are growing faster than their ability to accommodate demand, and that demand continues to grow as more and more companies turn to 'the cloud' for their solutions rather than self-hosting on their own networks.
AI is compounding the issue by demanding more and more 'computing resources' from hosting companies. Because of AI's speed and interactive nature, it is also demanding greater connectivity to communicate from the 'cloud' back to your 'device' (mobile, desktop, cellular, etc.). Those cloud giants hosting AI LLMs (Large Language Models) are also being taxed with storage sufficiency to maintain all that AI is learning about 'everything there is to know' in this world.
Protect yourself and your business data with backup or off-site (off-site of your normal cloud provider) copies of your data you can rely on if a major outage doesn't last a few minutes, hours, or a couple of days, but much longer, like any other disaster.