T-mobile And Microsoft, Information Loss And Cloud Systems

By Author: Gregg Housh
Total Articles: 18
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You probably have already heard about the colossal failure of Microsoft and Danger's cloud system, resulting in the loss of approximately 800,000 T-Mobile users' cell phone data. The unique method T-mobile employed to manage their customers info experienced a disastrous failure on October 5th and while questions still loom as to how this could have occurred the take home lesson for all PC users is plain as day : always backup your information correctly.

Sidekick information wasn't stored long-term on the cell phone itself, unlike any other cell phone models. Instead, data was uploaded to Microsoft / Danger's cloud : a cluster of many computers sharing the load of information storage and computing power. Systems like this aren't all that strange, if you use gmail or flickr you have already got data stored in a cloud. When one PC in the cloud fails, typically there's minimal to no data loss. If many computers fail, or if the software connecting the computers has an issue, all the data could be lost forever.

Thankfully Microsoft had some backups of the Sidekick information and eventually started restoring ...
... it to client cell phones on October 20th, 15 days after the initial loss of data. In the interim, thousands of blog posts, news stories and RSS feeds flooded the internet with bad PR about T-Mobile and Microsoft. The criticism was completely justified as well, due to early concerns within Microsoft that the backup data had somehow been damaged or lost in the same incident that took down the cloud. The idea that a company with the kind of resources and experience as Microsoft might have made such a rookie mistake of making backups that were depending on the same resources or software as the cloud is inconceivable to tech pros.

The cost of this catastrophe is more than just data loss and bad press, the financial toll is still growing. Between users terminating contracts early ( without the customary fee ), $100 T-Mobile gift cards being offered to users whose data was lost, and pulling Sidekicks from shelves and internet stores, the final cost could be somewhere in the millions.

Information recovery is a complicated and expensive process, and it is not always successful. To keep your data safe, whether it's tax records or pictures of your kids, you should always keep a secure backup. It's a easy, inexpensive, and reliable step that will help stop multi-million dollar calamities and private heartbreaks, but it has to be done correctly. Geek Choice techs are trained professionals who can help ensure that your backup solution is safe, even if your system fails. If you haven't already, make the effort to call about backing up your data today.
Gregg Housh holds the position of Technician Manager at Geek Choice. At Geek Choice we fix computer problems such as: Slow computer, Virus Removal, Spyware Removal, Computer startup problems, Printer not printing, Not connecting to the Internet, Scanner not working, or the "blue screen of death".