Google is providing us a look at just how good their recovery system is when it comes to cloud computing. They have gone to great lengths to assure the masses that cloud computing is safe and that Google will protect your stuff. They cite a number of precautions they have taken and use the City of Los Angeles that has gone to cloud computing through Google Apps., as an example of the trust they have garnered.

On their blog site Google also states:

For Google Apps customers, our RPO design target is zero, and our RTO design target is instant failover. We do this through live or synchronous replication: every action you take in Gmail is simultaneously replicated in two data centers at once, so that if one data center fails, we nearly instantly transfer your data over to the other one that’s also been reflecting your actions.

Our goal is not to lose any data when it’s transferred from one data center to another, and to transfer your data so quickly that you don’t even know a data center experiences an interruption. Of course, no backup solution from us or anyone else is absolutely perfect, but we’ve invested a lot of effort to help make it second to none.

And it’s not just to preserve your Gmail accounts. You get the same level of data replication for all the other major applications in the Apps suite: Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites.

What Google is aiming at is business accounts and to assure companies that their stuff will be safe. Which I agree that it appears that Google has the recovery covered fairly well.

However, and there is always a however, if Google can not protect themselves from being hacked, how do they intent to protect you, me or any business?

When we need help concerning a Google account, who do we call? Google has no in place technical support for Gmail. Have you ever tried to call Google? Good luck with that.

Comments welcome.

Source – Google blog