Signal 的高管梅雷迪思·惠特克（Meritalk） recently explained to cnBeta.com the reasons why the app relies on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its infrastructure. Despite Elon Musk's criticism, Meritalk believed that there was no other choice.
Meritalk argued that the problem is not Signal's dependence on AWS, but rather the concentration of power in the cloud infrastructure industry. She claimed that only three to four companies control most of the technology stack, making it impossible for others to build a comparable platform without breaking the bank.
Meritalk said that many people are unaware of Signal's use of AWS because they don't understand the extent of cloud infrastructure centralization. She emphasized that the focus should be on evaluating the infrastructure needs of global real-time massive communication platforms and thinking about why there is no realistic alternative to AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Services.
Meritalk pointed out that these three companies are the only viable options for building a platform that can support hundreds of thousands of concurrent audio/video calls with low latency. She explained that "running a low-latency real-time communication platform that requires a pre-built, global computing, storage, and edge network takes maintenance, power, and continuous attention."
Meritalk added that Signal is only partially running on AWS and uses encryption to ensure that neither Signal nor AWS can view user conversation content. The widespread impact of the AWS outage, which included services such as Starbucks, Epic Games Store, Ring Doorbell, Snapchat, Alexa devices, and even smart beds, has highlighted the risks of relying too heavily on a few large companies.
Meritalk hopes that the incident will serve as a wake-up call to highlight the concentration of power in the cloud infrastructure industry and the potential risks it poses.
Meritalk argued that the problem is not Signal's dependence on AWS, but rather the concentration of power in the cloud infrastructure industry. She claimed that only three to four companies control most of the technology stack, making it impossible for others to build a comparable platform without breaking the bank.
Meritalk said that many people are unaware of Signal's use of AWS because they don't understand the extent of cloud infrastructure centralization. She emphasized that the focus should be on evaluating the infrastructure needs of global real-time massive communication platforms and thinking about why there is no realistic alternative to AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Services.
Meritalk pointed out that these three companies are the only viable options for building a platform that can support hundreds of thousands of concurrent audio/video calls with low latency. She explained that "running a low-latency real-time communication platform that requires a pre-built, global computing, storage, and edge network takes maintenance, power, and continuous attention."
Meritalk added that Signal is only partially running on AWS and uses encryption to ensure that neither Signal nor AWS can view user conversation content. The widespread impact of the AWS outage, which included services such as Starbucks, Epic Games Store, Ring Doorbell, Snapchat, Alexa devices, and even smart beds, has highlighted the risks of relying too heavily on a few large companies.
Meritalk hopes that the incident will serve as a wake-up call to highlight the concentration of power in the cloud infrastructure industry and the potential risks it poses.
AWS 是大家都要用的云服务平台，哪个公司不用呢？ 
但问题在于，太多的公司都在追逐同样的目标，没有人能够打破 AWS 的垄断 
Signal 的使用 AWS 并不是很奇怪，而是我们没有看到更多其他 cloud 服务平台 
。 Meritalk 提到的 concentration of power 确实是一个严重的问题 
，只有三四家公司掌控了技术栈，没有人能建立出 Comparable 平台 
。
Signal 的安全措施也是值得注意的 
，使用 encryption 等保护机制确保用户的对话安全 
，这才是大家要担心的问题 
不理解这些大厂的中央化现象，觉得 Signal 是独特的，那就是不对的。 
这次的 AWS 宕机导致 Starbucks、Epic Games Store、Ring Doorbell、Snapchat、Alexa 设备甚至智能床都受到影响。 
really scary!
是不是真的不能少 AWS 的话？
这个问题根本没人想说过啊！ 
我觉得是有必要考虑一个替代方案的，至少要看看其他云服务-provider有什么可以做的！ 
!
apparently, it's because those three big companies – amazon, google, microsoft – are the only ones that can handle real-time massive communication platforms 
. 
Meritalk said it's all about understanding the extent of cloud infrastructure centralization 
. But at the same time, you can't help but feel like you're stuck in a web of corporate dependency 
.
running 一个这样的平台需要长时间维护，电力，持续关注。 
meanwhile Signal 的实质上只是部分跑在 AWS 上的 
但这三个 company 确实控制了全世界大规模实时通信平台的技术栈 
Alibaba Cloud or 
Huawei Cloud？? 
security breach？？ or goes out of business？
这次 AWS黑出事件也很值得关注，让我们不要太过依赖一些大公司