AWS Isn't the Only Company Holding Up the Internet

For many of us, Monday was a workday defined by the AWS outage. Amazon Web Services experienced intermittent issues, throwing a huge fraction of the internet into chaos, as the sites and services built on it faltered or stopped working altogether.

It was a sobering reminder that a lot of the world relies on AWS for networking, computing, and data storage. Truth be told, I was surprised to learn just how owned we really are, especially after a number of my work apps experienced issues. In fact, over four million business with a physical address use AWS for cloud-computing needs. It is the largest cloud infrastructure servicer in the world, with a whopping 30% of the market share. That's why when a global outage like this occurs, it's impossible to ignore: So many companies and products are affected, from streaming platforms like Prime Video, to social media sites like Facebook, that almost everyone who goes online will experience the disruption.

But 30% is not 100%. AWS might be the market leader, but it is not the entire market. There are plenty of other cloud infrastructure companies out there offering similar services—and posing similar risks should they experience outages.

Why use a cloud infrastructure company?

It's not necessarily a bad thing for companies turn to an AWS for their computing needs. It's simply much more cost efficient to outsource the resources necessary for running programs, storing data, and hosting traffic, especially as businesses rapidly grow and change. Rather than spend the time and money constantly purchasing and upgrading on-site hardware, companies can pay for servers as they go. Companies like AWS will scale up or down as needed, without interruption to service—until, of course, there is an interruption to services.

These companies can offer a host of cloud-based services and tools, including compute, databases, machine learning, networking, security, and storage. AWS just so happens to be the biggest of the bunch, but plenty of companies choose other cloud infrastructure options for their needs.

AWS alternatives

There are many other companies offering the same services as AWS, but for our purposes, I'm going to list seven of the most popular, starting with AWS' main competitors:

• Microsoft Azure: Microsoft's cloud computing services is only second to AWS in terms of global market share. Microsoft obviously uses its own cloud infrastructure, but plenty of other companies do too, including Ralph Laruen, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola, Abercrombie & Fitch, and even local, state, and federal governments.

• Google Cloud: Google Cloud is the third largest player in this space, with companies like Lowe's, Wendy's, EA, Fox Sports, Bayer, and McLaren all using its services.

• Alibaba Cloud: Alibaba Cloud has a large cloud computing market share, and is used by companies like Air Asia, Zara, Lenovo Group, and JNE Express.

• Oracle Cloud: Oracle Cloud includes customers like Quest Diagnostics, Baylor University, Smeg, Northwell Health, DHL, and MEO.

• Salesforce: Companies like Pacers Sports, Indeed, F1, and The Adecco Group use Salesforce's data cloud services.

• IBM Cloud: Deloitte, Pfizer, Harvard, Vodafone, and even the US Open purchase cloud products from IBM Cloud.

• Tencent Cloud: You might know Tencent particularly from its massive games division, but its cloud services are also wide reaching. They include services for companies like L'Oréal Paris, Tim Hortons, and Dell, as well as its own subsidiaries like Supercell and DouYu.

If there's a silver lining here, it's that there are more than just two or three companies powering sites and services around the globe, and we're not quite at the point where every company connected to the internet relies on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. That level of centralization would pose even larger risks than the ones we're currently living with.

Still, present circumstance are, still pretty risky. AWS has 30% of the market share, Azure has 20%, and Google Cloud has 12%. Taken together, these three companies make up 62% of all cloud infrastructure companies around the globe. Yes, it's good the other 38% is spread out amongst a collection of other players, but the risk of another AWS-like outage is high. Hopefully, following Monday's debacle, there is work currently being done to prevent such a thing from happening again, but that's being optimistic.

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