[SIGCIS-Members] Failure of Amazon "cloud" data center

[Ceruzzi, Paul]

You have probably heard the news about the failure of Amazon's Cloud computing services, in spite of their claim that it was geographically dispersed, redundant, etc. This is a relatively new phenomenon, but Martin Campbell-Kelly discussed its early genesis in his chapter in our book _The Internet & American Business_ (Aspray & Ceruzzi, 2008) (shameless plug). Anyway, I did some sleuthing & found the location: in Ashburn, Virginia, an old farming community just north of Dulles Airport, at the west end of "Internet Alley" (another shameless plug). Old maps show the town as "Farmwell," but it was renamed after a tree that caught fire from a lightning strike.  When I was writing _Internet Alley_ the center of internet data switching and storage was in Tysons Corner, Virginia; now it has shifted west to this little town.  

I have the street address of the Amazon facility, but these data centers are cheek-by-jowl out there. If you want to see them, the best way is to rent a bicycle and ride along the W&OD rail-trail. 

<http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gp4t6c2jaVZIy4tolnKFMcdPUhxg?docId=1a2f6eebf38549379970883a66b242a5>


Paul E. Ceruzzi