Google, You Got Knocked the F Out, Man!!!

May 2009

Google blackout blamed on network ‘traffic jam.’ Google blamed a network error for an “embarrassing” breakdown in service on May 14 as Gmail, search, YouTube, AdSense and Blogger all experienced outages, while Facebook suffered another phishing attack. Data routing issues caused several Google products to stop functioning on May 14, most notably Google’s main search tool, before service was renewed an hour later. A systems error caused Google to direct web traffic through Asia, which created an internet traffic jam. As a result, about 14 percent of internet users experienced slow services and interruptions. A senior vice president for Google operations said: “Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia. And a bunch of other planes were sent that way too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took much longer than expected.” Google apologized for the glitch, calling the incident “embarrassing” and said it would work diligently to avoid future breakdowns.

http://www.brandrepublic.com

http://www.thebigmoney.com/blogs/feeling-lucky/2009/05/15/google-blackout-fallout