Google Outage Lesson: Don't Get Stuck in a Cloud
Google has apologized for yesterday's service outage that left 14 percent of its user base without Google's wide variety of online services for a few hours. Google said in a blog post the outage came down to a simple traffic jam at an Asian data center. The search giant described the situation by using the analogy of a large number of airplanes being rerouted through one airport that was not equipped for a massive influx of traffic. But in Google's case, it wasn't airplanes looking for a place to land; it was cloud-based data trying to stay up in the sky.
The confusion surrounding the issue was evident on Twitter where users quickly used the #googlefail hashtag to get the word out and scream bloody murder. One Tweep, named Leigh said, "the Internet dies without Google." She complained that she couldn't access her bank account online, because the bank needed Google Analytics -- Mountain View's web traffic analysis utility -- to work. "This is made of lame," Leigh said.
The day the Gcloud fell
But is Google that important to today's Internet? Well, a quick look at this graph from the Web security company Arbor Networks shows a canyon-sized hole in North American Internet traffic during the G-outage. With a wide variety of practical services like Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Calendar, and even Google search gone, online activities came to a standstill for many people during the Google blackout. On the National Business Review's New Zealand site a reader named Karen complained of losing important business appointments in Google Calendar while other entries were duplicated and even tripled, creating a confusing mess. Let's hope Karen was able to sort it all out.
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Google Envy in Practice
Ironically most CEOs at major corporations only wish that their internal IT team had the track record of Google -- a limited number of operational outages, while they constantly innovate new services for their demanding customer base.The rapid move to cloud services might not happen -- if and when the typical internal IT organization can deliver meaningful positive business impact at the same pace and consistency as Google. Will most CEOs wait for that to happen?
Perhaps the real lesson learned is beware of Google Envy. Don't get stuck with a CIO who points to the Google outage as proof-positive that mediocrity is still the safe bet.
Business Technology Roundtable