On October 16, 2018, it was largely reported globally that YouTube services went down for more than one hour. This technical downtime which was also confirmed by the official YouTube tweet, “We are working on this and will let you know once fixed”, has thrown more light that it is almost impossible to have a 100% up time in ICT.
Although YouTube was back and fully functional which was also widely reported and confirmed by another official release “We are back! Thanks for all of your patience. If you are still experiencing issues, please let us know”, the downing affected video and mobile app services.
YouTube is one of the most robust and widely used Google services globally. I’ve never experienced any sign of downtime issue on YouTube since I became ICT aware. If such could happen few days ago, it means no information and communication technology ICT structure globally can boast of a 100% up time in practice.
A 100% up-time may be possible for a calculated period of time, but may not be sustainable at all times. I am open to diverging views on this.
Sometimes I read about website hosting companies promising 100% uptime for website domains hosted by them. Some other times, satellite TV and terrestrial TV providers boast of a 24/7 digital broadcast of TV programs without any downtime. What about telecommunication and internet network service providers who would always boast of rendering seamless services 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day, 365 or 366 days per year etc?
No matter how sophisticated, robust, efficient and smart your technology may seem, there must a a time for services, upgrades, replacements or general maintenance. However, I am not ruling out the fact that smart technology has provided for upgrade or maintenance downtime without service interruptions. This is made possible through systematic backup and seamless switch-over technologies.
Only a smart technology with systematic in-service upgrade, maintenance or backup switch-over may guarantee no downtime. Yet, it may still occur. Only God can guarantee no downtime.