Public faith in Web-based software applications suffered a notable blow Sept. 1 when Google’s popular Gmail service suffered an outage for more than an hour.

Gmail's temporary failure, caused by a data center glitch, left millions of Gmail users without e-mail access.

For Mike Klein, president and chief operating officer of Ann Arbor-based data center firm Online Technologies, it was a reminder that continuous data accessibility is critical to the viability of online software applications.

“Gmail being down for three hours caused a lot of pain for a lot of people,” he said.

Klein said Online Technologies, which manages servers for dozens of business clients and does not service Google, relies on a network of backup systems to maintain data access for its customers. If a power blackout occurs, for example, a generator automatically kicks in to avoid problems.

But “one generator isn’t enough,” he said. “You have to have two in case one doesn’t start when you have a power outage.”

Online Tech also maintains relationships with multiple Internet service providers.

“If one fails, we automatically sail over to another Internet provider and our customers don’t see a difference,” Klein said. “If we do a really good job, our clients’ clients never notice us.”

Online Tech’s traction in the data center market has allowed the company to focus its operations exclusively on its core business. The firm last year added 10,000 square feet of data center space and 10 employees. Its second-quarter revenue this year topped its expectations by 25 percent.

Data center reliability is a crucial factor in accelerating the shift toward Web-based information systems.

National tech experts suggested that Gmail's outage could cause problems for the Web-based software movement. Nearly 150 million people use Gmail.

PC World's Ian Paul wrote that Gmail's outage "was not only an inconvenience, it calls into question -- yet again -- the feasibility of present-day cloud computing," the term used to refer to conducting Web business based on external servers.

"One popular prediction is that future computers won't need huge hard drives because all our applications and personal data (photos, videos, documents and e-mail) will exist on remote servers on the Internet," Paul wrote. "But how viable is this Utopian computing future when the accessibility of your files is dependent on forces beyond your control?"

Klein suggested, however, that the shift toward storing information on external servers was too enticing for companies looking to streamline technology costs and operate more efficiently.

“You don’t really need to have it sitting on your computer anymore. You can run it over the Internet,” he said.

Just double-check that your data infrastructure is unshakable.

“In that market, making sure your servers are always online, always powered on and running on an redundant infrastructure is very important,” Klein said.

(Photo of Online Technologies President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Klein)

Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at nathanbomey@annarbor.com or (734) 623-2587 or follow him on Twitter.