Cloud availability data

Every prospective cloud storage purchaser would like to know availability data about its cloud in advance, to make the best possible choice. However, very few data are available. Shall we trust what cloud storage providers boast? And believe their promise (when present) of five nines availability ? Well, third party data are available, though the scenario is not pleasant. Cloutage had been collecting data on cloud availability performance for some time (most of the data analysed in our paper come from Cloutage), but it has not been updating its website for more than a year now, and most of its records are not accessible any more. Instead, having appeared on the scene in early 2012, the International Working Group on Cloud Computing Resiliency (IWGCR) has started doing the same job, though the sheer size of its records is quite modest with respect to Cloutage. So, the current scenario is not encouraging. While we praise the notable effort of the IWGCR, we would like Cloutage to come back, and have a more transparent diffusion of cloud availability data. Availability data are routinely available (sorry for the pun...) for electricity suppliers. In the US, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC, take a look at their website) provides a host of data about the reliability of grid suppliers. Should future-looking information technology lag behind old electrotechnology?