I think you're missing the point that I'm not going after the DB layer or your own software states (eg. read only). Most AWS outages are related to network laye

I think you're missing the point that I'm not going after the DB layer or your own software states (eg. read only). Most AWS outages are related to network layers; you have to already be sync'd. If you want to do writes, sync'd enough to still guarantee a quorum for your writes AND reads, and if the AWS network(s) are fractured enough, you could theoretically be without access to bringing up a stable "wan" for yourself. And then you may simply be hamstrung by ELB outages and be left without hope altogether. If we're talking about read-only, I don't see why a DB, in the traditional meaning, has much to do with the issue. These are not necessarily AWS faults; they are certainly trying to help. It might be the year for being a tenant of more than one PaaS though, but that is only going to up your costs and still not give infinite 9s.