Friday, April 22, 2011


Google posted a video tour of one of its data centers today, highlighting some of the steps it takes to keep data secure and maintain reliability.
Google has been notoriously tight-lipped about its data centers, and doesn't even disclose exactly how many it operates.
So why the sudden openness? There are several likely reasons:
  • Yesterday's Amazon Web Services outage is creating new questions about the viability of cloud computing -- including services like Google Apps
  • Also yesterday, environmental activists Greenpeace released a scathing report on data center efficiency and use of dirty energy sources like coal (PDF here). The group admitted it didn't have all the information it needed to make the report perfectly accurate, but blamed data center operators for not sharing enough information. The group had some particularly harsh words for Google, giving it an F on transparency.
  • Last week, Microsoft called into question whether Google Apps was secure enough for government use. Google's slow response made it look like it had something to hide.
Google isn't exactly going the Facebook route, but today's video is a big step given how secretive the company has been so far.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey, there is a broken link in this article, under the anchor text - PDF here
Here is the working link so you can replace it - https://selectra.co.uk/sites/selectra.co.uk/files/pdf/dirty-data-report-greenpeace%20(1).pdf