Amazon Web Services is planning to “completely re-imagine” how its network is managed, according to a recent job posting. The posting is for someone to run a project the company expects will be “critical to the growth of the AWS network, and Amazon as a whole.”
The posting indicates a key part of the project will be to build “a suite of control plane services from the ground up.” The company’s network fabric teams will use these services to scale and manage AWS’s vast networks. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment..
“As this is a green-field project that is just getting started, many decisions are yet to be made, about not only the software components this role will own, but also around the overall customer experience,” the job posting says. “By joining this effort early in the definition phase, you have an opportunity to shape how one of the largest networks on the planet is going to be operated for at least the next decade.”
In December, AWS faced one of the largest outages in its history when a sudden surge of traffic clogged multiple network devices in its biggest region for data centers in Northern Virginia. The company initially said the “root cause” of the outage was “a problem with several network devices within the internal AWS network,” as Insider previously reported based on an internal AWS communique.
A person familiar with the AWS network told Insider that while it has a “modest amount of automation,” it is “painful” to deal with in terms of making changes. The project appears to be an attempt to fix this, the person said.
However, the person cautioned,”‘new initiative’ is a recruiting tactic that managers will use to attract candidates,” and may not indicate a new project or team.
Amazon also has two secret projects that are trying to mitigate the risk of cloud outages like the one that knocked out parts of the internet in December, as Insider previously reported.
Are you an Amazon Web Services employee? Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email (astewart@insider.com)
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