Web Publishers, Heat Waves, Power Outages and Data Centers

Posted on July 25, 2007

Yesterday's power outage in San Francisco brought down the websites of several popular Web 2.0 companies including Cragslist, Technorati and the blog platforms provided by Six Apart. The problems were created when backup generators failed at 365 Main, a major data center. Web publishers are going to have to take a critical look at their own hosting providers.

The unprecedented heat wave that occurred in Northern California last year is an indication of just how serious these heat waves will be. Rare short outages don't turn off regular visitors but frequent short outages or a long several day outage could turn off web visitors -- especially in a publishing world like the Internet where web users have so many content alternatives to choose from.

Writers will also have to consider alternate power options if the grid goes down. Backup generators and a cellular data plan can keep you writing in a grid emergency.