Amazon's Data Storage Service Goes Down, Leaving Businesses StuckAmazon's Data Storage Service Goes Down, Leaving Businesses Stuck

Amazon.com's Simple Storage Service (aka S3), the lifeline of many Web-oriented small businesses, was down for up to three hours this morning, leaving those businesses unable to operate.Amazon pitches its suite of Amazon Web Services to Web developers and online businesses as a way to launch a Web-based business without a big investment in infrastructure. The online photo sharing company SmugMug and the online collaboration provider 37signals are two Web 2.0 businesses that rely on Amazon's Simple Storage Service. But the glitch in S3 this morning sent a wave of concern through the company's clients, who had to wonder if a more traditional Web hosting arrangement would be more reliable. It also highlighted potential downsides to "cloud computing," the growing interest in moving computing tasks off the desktop and onto the Internet.

By around noon EST, a post on an Amazon user group forum claimed the problem had been fixed: "This morning's issue has been resolved and the system is continuing to recover," wrote Amazon employee Kathrin.Computerworld, CNET News