Base Technologies: Internal Development

Google primarily relies on its own internally developed software for data and network management and has a reputation for being skeptical of “not invented here” technologies, so relatively few vendors can claim it as a customer.

APPLICATIONPRODUCTSUPPLIER
Distributed file systemGoogle File SystemGoogle proprietary
Distributed schedulingGlobal Work QueueGoogle proprietary
Very large database management systemsBigTable,Berkeley DBGoogle proprietary, Sleepycat Software/Oracle
Server operating systemRed Hat Linux (with kernel-level modifications by Google)Red Hat, Google
Web protocol acceleratorNetScaler Application DeliveryCitrix Systems
Web content translationRosette Language Analyzers for Chinese, Japanese and Korean (used in combination with Google proprietary translation technology)Basis Technology
File conversion and content extractionOutside InStellent

Google’s primary programming languages include C/C++, java and python. Guido Van Rossum, Python’s creator, went to work for google at the end of 2005. The company also has created sawzall, a special-purpose distributed computing job preparation language.

Story Guide:

Google’s Extreme Infrastructure

  • What Other CIOs Can Learn from Google
  • Google’s Beginnings
  • Why Parallel Processing Makes Sense
  • Behind The Google File System
  • How Google Reduces Complexity
  • Google’s Secret Arsenal
  • Would Google’s File System Work for You?
  • Inside Google’s Enterprise

    Also in this Feature:

  • Google Basics
  • The People Who Power Google
  • Google Courts the Enterprise
  • How Google Manages a Global Workforce