How Is the Cloud Fairing in the World of Downtime?

Here at Alertra we talk quite a bit about server and website uptime and how crucial it is to minimize downtime. As the cloud becomes a more integral part of the Internet, however, one must begin to question how well cloud companies are standing up to downtime issues. Surprisingly, the newer technology of the cloud seems to be outperforming long-standing technology such as traditional website hosting, which has had years to perfect its services. Of course, not all cloud vendors are created equal and that was proven in 2014.

How Are the Cloud Vendors Stacking Up?

There are a few big players who have invested very large sums of money into creating resiliency and reliability for their cloud platforms. There are three major cloud providers including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others. Statistics show that in 2014 Amazon had a total cloud downtime of 2.4 hours. Microsoft, on the other hand, had a downtime total of over 40 hours in 2014. That’s quite a difference between providers, showing that some companies need to invest more in their technology. Perhaps cloud-based providers should take uptime monitoring as seriously as website owners have learned to do. While Amazon’s downtime was minimal, Microsoft is a clear example that the cloud industry definitely needs some work in this area.

What This Means for You

If your website, or any part of it, is using a cloud-based provider, your need for website monitoring service is not eliminated. Just because the data is in “the cloud” that doesn’t mean that it is immune from downtime, as Microsoft’s numbers have proven. This also means you should be very selective when choosing a cloud provider. After all, the differences in uptime are staggering when you consider approximately 2 hours a year versus approximately 40 hours a year. Make sure you investigate the actual uptime a cloud provider can offer and its uptime history before choosing the provider that’s right for you.