Monday’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage has reignited calls for more resilient data centre strategies, according to maintenance specialists Arfon Engineering.
The outage left millions without access to popular apps and websites, including Alexa, Snapchat and Reddit, after a Domain Name System (DNS) error shut down AWS’s major data centre in Virginia.
The disruption, which lasted more than eight hours, is being described as the largest internet outage since a CrowdStrike update caused a global IT failure last year.
Financial losses are expected to reach hundreds of billions, with long-term reputational damage potentially even greater.
While the incident was not caused by maintenance failures or physical infrastructure issues, Arfon Engineering says it underlines the importance of predictive maintenance in preventing other forms of costly downtime.
Alice Oakes, service and support manager at Arfon, said: “The chaos brought by Monday’s outage shows the sheer damage that can be caused by something as simple servers going down. While it might’ve been unavoidable, this is certainly not the case for downtime caused by equipment failures and reactive maintenance.
“This is where predictive maintenance can make a real difference. It’s more resilient, cost-effective and environmentally responsible than typical reactive or preventative approaches – presenting operators with the chance to stay ahead of potential issues.”
Predictive maintenance relies on condition-based monitoring (CBM) to track equipment health in real time, identifying potential failures before they occur.
This allows for targeted, proactive interventions that extend asset life and reduce unnecessary repairs.
CBM also cuts down on unnecessary replacements, lowering emissions and energy use in an industry already under scrutiny for its environmental footprint.
AWS outage sparks calls for resilient data centre strategies appeared first on Energy Live News.