How Cloud Computing Was Instrumental to Facebook’s Growth
There is no doubt that Facebook today has become a typical example of how a small start-up can grow into a household brand. However, few realize that cloud computing played a significant part in Facebook’s rapid growth. Cloud technology did not only encourage the expansion of Facebook, but constantly contributed to the social network company’s environmental conservation policies.
The success story of Facebook is closely related to the enviable development in Data Center services. Previously, the operators of Data Centers were constantly troubled about how to manage ever-increasing amounts of servers and clients. Back then, Data Centers reportedly consumed about 30 billion watts of electricity – equal to 30 nuclear plants. Sadly, only 6 to 12 percent of this amount of energy was actually used in computing activities. The rest merely created environmental pollution. Running those Data Centers then was considered environmentally unfriendly and unprofitable. But that changed dramatically with cloud.
In 2006, Facebook housed its several servers in a server site in California. The company struggled to manage its mere 10 million users then and faced serious problems as its servers were overwhelmed by user requirements.
Facebook’s groups of computer servers that were meant to process, store and retrieve information produced from members’ accounts almost suffered sudden meltdown. According to Jeff Rothschild, Facebook VP of Technology, to arrest this dangerous situation: “We cleaned out all of the Walgreens in the area to blast cool air at the equipment and prevent the Web site from going down.” He urged the employees of the company to rush around and purchase as many fans as possible to achieve this feat.
Now with one billion profiles and counting, Facebook has finally resolved this headache by entirely moving its myriad of operations to the cloud. Facebook users have been able to enjoy uninterrupted operations and the company has created an environmentally-friendly ethic.
What could have happened to Facebook’s innovative image had its operations were disrupted for days? How would the company have gained the reputation of being energy-saving and environmentally-friendly? How could Facebook have saved on the energy wastage that occurred in its operations before and turn that to optimum performance and profitability?
The answer to these questions: cloud computing does it all. If you want to protect the environment and have more freedom to innovate, you can do far worse than cloud.
Be Part of Our Cloud Conversation
Our articles are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. Join us on Facebook and Twitter.
About the Guest Author:
Jerry Olasakinju, a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) degree holder, is a passionate researcher and writer whose interest in everything computing is unparalleled. He blogs about his literary works at http://jerryolasakinju.blogspot.jp/
