When Half the Internet Stood Still - Why Independent Servers Are the Better Choice

It was an ordinary Monday morning. Until suddenly Signal stopped working. Zoom meetings crashed. Fortnite players stared at error messages. Snapchat was dead. And even Amazon's own services like Alexa and Prime Video failed to deliver. What had happened?

The Single Point of Failure

On October 20, 2025, a technical problem at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the US-EAST-1 region in Virginia paralyzed half the internet. Over 2,000 companies and millions of users worldwide were affected. The list of failed services reads like a who's who of the internet: Signal, Snapchat, Fortnite, Roblox, Duolingo, Canva, Slack, Zoom, Tinder, Coinbase, Docker, Atlassian - all offline.

The cause? A DNS problem with Amazon's DynamoDB service. A single technical error in one data center, and worldwide companies couldn't work, users couldn't communicate, gamers couldn't play.

In the US alone, over 5,000 outage reports were filed with Downdetector, in Germany there were 1,300. Recovery took several hours - time during which companies lost revenue, customers were frustrated, and dependence on a single provider became painfully clear.

The Deceptive Security of Cloud Giants

AWS holds a worldwide market share of about 30 percent among cloud providers - that corresponds to profits of around 30 billion US dollars per quarter. This dominance suggests security. "If Amazon provides the infrastructure, nothing can go wrong," many companies think.

But this monopoly position is exactly the problem. When AWS fails, a huge part of the internet fails with it. And this is not an isolated case - similar outages have occurred multiple times in the past.

Advantages of AWS - The Supposed Perfection

To be fair: AWS does offer advantages that attract many companies:

Scalability at the Push of a Button Resources can be scaled up or down as needed. Theoretically ideal for growing startups.

Global Availability Data centers on all continents enable worldwide availability with low latency.

Managed Services Many services are completely managed - backups, updates, security run automatically.

Pay-per-Use Model You only pay for what you use. No large upfront investments needed.

Large Community and Support Extensive documentation, large developer community, professional support.

Disadvantages of AWS - The Bitter Reality

But behind the shiny facade lurk significant problems:

Single Point of Failure As the outage on October 20 brutally showed: When AWS fails, everything fails. No control, no alternatives, just waiting.

Vendor Lock-in Once you're on AWS, it's hard to get out. Proprietary services and structures make migration extremely complex.

Unpredictable Costs The pay-per-use model sounds good until the bill comes. Traffic spikes or misconfigured services lead to exploding costs.

Complexity AWS offers over 200 different services. Configuration requires specialized knowledge. Mistakes are expensive and dangerous.

Data Protection Concerns US-American company, US data centers as main locations. GDPR compliance is a constant challenge.

No Control During Outages Your business is at a standstill, but you can't do anything. You're completely dependent on Amazon solving the problem.

Shared Resources You share hardware with other customers. Performance problems with neighbors can affect your services.

The NORDWYND Difference: Independent, Dedicated Servers

At NORDWYND, I've relied on a fundamentally different approach for over 13 years: Own, independent web servers as an integral part of my all-around service package for websites.

Full Control Instead of Dependency

Each of my clients receives dedicated server resources that I personally manage and optimize. No shared resources, no dependence on cloud giants, no nasty surprises during outages.

When AWS failed on Monday and thousands of companies had to watch helplessly, all NORDWYND websites continued to run flawlessly. Not a single outage. Not a minute of downtime. Business as usual.

The Concrete Advantages of My System

Independence from Cloud Monopolies No dependence on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. When a giant falls, you stay online.

Predictable, Transparent Costs Part of the monthly retainer package. No hidden costs, no traffic surprises, no price explosions.

Optimized for Your Specific Requirements Each server is individually configured and optimized for the respective website and its requirements.

Direct Personal Support When problems arise, you speak with me, not with a ticket system. I know your infrastructure in detail.

GDPR-Compliant German/European Data Centers Your data stays in Europe, under European data protection law. No US Cloud Act issues.

Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance I continuously monitor all systems. Potential problems are identified and fixed before they lead to outages.

Custom Backup Strategies Redundant backup systems tailored to your business requirements - not standardized cloud packages.

Performance Without Compromises Dedicated resources mean: No performance losses due to other customers. Your website runs at consistently high speed.

Part of a Holistic System

The independent servers are just one part of my 360° approach. From initial conception through development to permanent monitoring and continuous optimization - everything from one source.

While AWS customers had to helplessly wait for status updates on Monday, my clients simply continued working. Their websites ran, their customers could order, their businesses were online.

The Lesson from Monday, October 20, 2025

The AWS outage has impressively shown: The supposed security of the large cloud providers is an illusion. The greater the dependency, the more devastating the outages.

Companies must ask themselves: Can we afford our business to depend on a single provider? Are we willing to be offline for hours with every AWS outage?

For my clients, the answer is clear: No. They rely on independence, control, and the certainty that their digital infrastructure is in experienced hands - hands that have proven themselves for over 13 years.

If you want to know how your company can also benefit from independent, professionally managed server infrastructure - let's talk.