MyWSU is shifting from an Oracle platform to the cloud provider Amazon Web Services on Sept. 30, creating a service interruption until Oct. 2. 

The interruption will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday and end around noon on Sunday, according to a WSU press release. 

By using AWS, the university hopes to reduce slowdowns and ensure technical support responds faster to issues during busy times of the year, like the beginning of each semester, according to the press release.  

The new cloud service could also increase security and improve the site’s visual appearance using the Fluid User Interface, according to the press release. 

WSU said technical support for MyWSU could also see improvements, like installing PeopleTools upgrades to the site every other year instead of every four to six years. Informational Technology Services will upgrade to the latest version of PeopleTools during the shift. 

AWS has suffered from service outages in the past, according to an Associated Press News article.

On Dec. 7, 2021, the web service experienced a major outage that disrupted services for airlines, payment applications, and companies like Netflix and Disney. The company did not disclose what caused the outage, according to the article. AWS also experienced an outage in November 2020. 

AWS was a large source of profit for Amazon in 2021, holding 40% of the global cloud infrastructure market. This was a larger share than Google, Microsoft and Alibaba held combined, according to the article. 

As of April, the cloud service generated $18.44 billion in fiscal quarter two – 16% of Amazon’s revenue, according to a CNBC article.