AWS Datacenters: A Look at History and Reliability

AWS has a long history of innovation in datacenter design and operation. Their first datacenter was launched in 2006 in Ashburn, Virginia.

AWS has continued to expand its datacenter presence globally, with locations now spanning six continents. This extensive network enables AWS to provide low-latency and high-performance computing to its customers worldwide.

By 2018, AWS had over 200 datacenters worldwide, with a total capacity of more than 5 exaflops of computational power. This massive scale has allowed AWS to support a wide range of applications, from small startups to large enterprises.

AWS's datacenter design emphasizes reliability and redundancy, with multiple layers of backup power and cooling systems in place to ensure continuous operation.

AWS launched its first generation services, including Amazon S3 and EC2, in 2006. These services were a game-changer for cloud computing, making it possible for companies like SmugMug to save around $400,000 in storage costs.

In 2007, AWS announced its Start-up Challenge, a contest with prizes worth $100,000 for entrepreneurs and software developers using AWS services to build their businesses. The first edition saw participation from Justin.tv, which Amazon would later acquire in 2014.

AWS continued to innovate with the launch of various services, including SimpleDB, Mechanical Turk, Elastic Block Store, and more. These services were designed to help businesses scale and manage their operations more efficiently.

By 2014, AWS had already made significant strides in its commitment to renewable energy, aiming to achieve 100% renewable energy usage in the future. This goal was supported by partnerships with companies like Community Energy of Virginia and Pattern Development.

Here's a brief overview of some of the key services launched during this period:

AWS datacenters have experienced significant service outages over the years. The most notable one occurred on April 20, 2011, when parts of the Elastic Block Store service became "stuck" and couldn't fulfill read/write requests, taking at least two days to fully restore.

These outages have affected many popular websites, including Reddit, Foursquare, Pinterest, and Netflix. In 2012, a severe storm in Northern Virginia caused several websites to go offline due to a power outage.

The cause of these outages has been varied, but in some cases, human error has played a significant role. For example, a memory leak bug in an operational data collection agent caused a major outage on October 22, 2012.

Here are some notable AWS outages:

AWS has made efforts to improve its reliability and has implemented measures to prevent similar outages from occurring in the future.

AWS has made significant strides in reducing its environmental impact, particularly in the area of data center operations. In 2022, 90% of all Amazon operations, including data centers, were powered by renewables.

The company has been actively investing in renewable energy, and as of 2023, Amazon has a global portfolio of over 20 GW of renewable energy capacity. This is a testament to the company's commitment to sustainability.

AWS joined the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact in January 2021, a pledge to achieve climate neutrality of data centers by 2030. This move demonstrates the company's willingness to take concrete steps towards reducing its carbon footprint.

Amazon is the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world, a position it has held since 2020. This achievement highlights the company's significant investment in clean energy.

AWS has also been recognized for its advances toward greener computing, earning a "C" grade from Greenpeace in 2016. However, the organization noted that Amazon is still opaque about its carbon footprint.

Amazon's investment in Ohio is substantial, with plans to build 29 data centers in the Central Ohio area, including five new data centers in New Albany.

The company has already spent over $6 billion since building its first seven data centers in Ohio, beginning back in 2014. AWS currently operates data centers in Franklin and Licking counties.

Google also has a significant presence in Ohio, with a planned $1.7 billion expansion of its three data centers in New Albany.

AWS has a presence in Indiana, where it plans to build a new data center campus at the Indian Enterprise Center in St. Joseph County.

This investment is not only a boost to the local economy but also raises awareness about the need to create a robust technology workforce in the region.

AWS aims to power its new data center campus with renewable energy, specifically through four solar farms and a wind farm, which will have a combined capacity of over 600 megawatts.

This amount of renewable energy is enough to power approximately 146,000 homes, showcasing AWS's commitment to sustainability.

AWS's investment in Indiana is part of its broader efforts to expand its presence in the US and support local communities.

Amazon's Long Tail in Ohio is a significant development, with the company planning to build 29 data centers in the Central Ohio area. This will create 105 full-time jobs, with an estimated annual payroll of $9 million.

The investment is substantial, with a $3.5 billion outlay over the next decade. AWS has already spent over $6 billion on its existing seven data centers in Ohio, which began construction in 2014.

The company's public policy manager, Merle Madrid, described this as "step one" of the investment, indicating more is to come. The data centers will be built near the location of Intel's new chip fab, which is also set to be a major development in the area.

The region's reliable power, relatively affordable land, and lower incidence of natural disasters have made it an attractive location for data center development. Central Ohio has become a major hub of data center development, with 4.6 million SF of data center space, the ninth greatest footprint for any market in the nation.

The area has seen significant growth, with 2.7 million SF of data center space added between 2012 and 2021. The Columbus area now contains 40 data centers operated by 25 companies, making it a major player in the data center industry.