Cloud Computing: NYC Websites Running On Fumes In Wake Of Superstorm Sandy
October 31, 2012
Grazed from ReadWrite Cloud. Author: Brian Proffitt.
In the age of cloud computing, it’s an archaic thought: The livelihood of some popular websites currently rests on bucket brigades carrying diesel fuel up multiple flights of stairs just to keep generators running. But that’s the reality as Lower Manhattan struggles with massive power outages and flooded understructures in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. It’s a decidedly 17th Century solution to a 21st Century problem. But it’s the only way to get fuel to generators that are located in powerless high-rises when elevators are out of service and basement fuel pumps are incapacitated due to flooding?
For site admins at Fog Creek Software in New York, the solution is clear, albeit arduous: When diesel is delivered to their building at 75 Broad Street, the fuel is hand-delivered to the generators on the 17th floor via bucket brigade, giving the online service provider more hours of uptime while basement flooding is cleared and the building awaits power restoration from ConEd. Meanwhile, users of services like Trello, FogBugz and Copilot are basically in a holding pattern, knowing that one missed fuel delivery or downed generator is all that stands between uptime and downtime right now…
A Too-Common Tale Of Woe
Fog Creek is not alone in its situation. ISPs Peer1 and Internap both maintain facilities in the same building. Fog Creek and fellow ISP tenant Squarespace are working with Peer1 on the bucket brigade to keep servers going. Internap is reporting that since their fuel pumps were swamped, the facility was shut down after the generators’ fuel ran out…
Read more from the source @ http://readwrite.com/2012/10/31/nyc-websites-running-on-fumes-in-wake-of-superstorm-sandy