Cell-Based Architecture for Resilient Payment Systems

▤ Summary

This article explains how American Express designs its core payments ecosystem around cell-based architecture to improve resiliency, latency, and scalability. It shows how each cell runs independently with its own services, databases, and failure domain so disruptions stay contained. It also describes deterministic routing, localized data storage, and asynchronous replication to keep transaction processing inside each cell. The piece highlights how the Global Transaction Router enforces boundaries and reroutes traffic during failures or maintenance. Overall, the post focuses on architecture choices that support a mission-critical payment platform at global scale.

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