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The IT Strategy That Makes Google Work
savio13 writes "InfoWeek published an article on Google's IT Strategy, which can be summarized as: 'Use customized open source where possible, custom build where necessary , and buy if it's not related to something that will give Google a competitive advantage.' The author interviewed several senior IT folks at Google and the article is surprisingly thorough considering how closely Google guards information about their actual IT environment." From the article: "Google managers tend to be reticent on the subject of IT strategy, they're loath to talk about specific vendors or products, and they clam up when asked about their servers and data centers. But a day spent with some of the company's IT leaders reveals there's more to Google's IT operations than a search engine running on a massive server farm. Behind the seeming simplicity is a mash-up of internally developed software, made-to-order hardware, artificial intelligence, obsession with performance, and an unorthodox approach to people management."
One of the things that has consistently impressed me about Google is their willingness to look at old problems in new and innovative ways. Of course this is one of the hallmarks of a successful company, but it is not always successfully implemented. One example is their Google Earth application that made huge waves in certain agencies like NIMA. The interface made more than one NIMA/NRO/CIA analyst/project manager smack their forehead in stunned recognition of a superior way of layering and interacting with diverse types of data.
The other thing that really impresses me about the company is the flat egalitarian structure that at the same time allows for tremendous independent freedom while also making much of the management fairly transparent which does tremendous things for morale. I also respect the encouragement of discourse including criticism. Not many companies can tolerate that sort of structure because they are built upon protectionism of management structures and establishment of castes of a sort. It shows that Google is one of the few companies like Apple that are succeeding because of their inherent talent. Google knows this and I would encourage them to resist the pressure to devolve into management structures that are having negative effects on tech companies as diverse as SGI, HP, Dell and Microsoft.
As an aside, Google has shows a tremendously insightful ability to pick and choose product development talent at all levels over the years. I've been impressed by many of their hires. Whoever is heading up their HR dept. is talking actively with the Google special sauce R&D folks and they know their stuff.....
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"The IT Strategy That Makes Google Work Today"
Everyone's talking about how bloated and old Microsoft is... give Google 10 or 15 years - rest assured we'll be seeing comments like "Where Did Google Go Wrong?" or "Google Delisted" or something like that.
Yes, if only Google had some sort of project devoted to open-source development.
Sorry to spoil your paen to Google, but Google did not actually develop Google Earth. That was done by Keyhole, Inc. (in the guise of their Earth Viewer application), who Google acquired.
However, credit can be given to Google in this case for recognizing when someone else is looking at old problems in new and innovative ways, and adapting their approach.
I agree with your point. However, just to nitpick, your concept of NIH is reversed. NIH means to *refuse* to use concepts/tools that were "not invented here." In other words, companies that take the NIH approach would prefer in-house solutions to 3rd-party ones, not the other way around. So your argument is actually in support of NIH, not against it. wiki link
On their patches page, under "Google Search Appliance", there's a note that the linked patches include the kernel information for those machines (e.g. linux-2.4.26-google.tar.gz from their latest GSA distribution. Whether or not the GSA is running the same code as their own search cluster is anyone's guess [aside, of course, from those of you reading this that do work there, heh]. I'd say that they're probably pretty close if they aren't identical because otherwise tracking multiple trees would be kind of a pain in the ass (on the other hand, they do have many developers and an incentive to make their machines scream...). It should be noted that if their search pool servers ARE running changes that aren't being made public, it is perfectly within their rights to do so, as the GPL stipulates (in short) that your customers should have access to your source code (and if you are your only customer, then it's perfectly legit to keep changes in-house; if you start shipping those binaries elsewhere however, then it's time to cough up the src).
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