Unfortunately, 'The Blackout' speaks of a problem that runs deeper. It exposes a culture problem. One that lacks innovation, does not keep up with trends and only fixes things once they finally die.
E-commerce shopping is increasing at a fast pace. Predictions are that it will not slow down any time soon. Blackout Friday has only demonstrated what may be expected in the future. It has given us a looking glass by which we should be learning and changing. Scaling problems are not new and there are a myriad of production tested, bulletproof ways of handling this. Some of the techniques have been around for a long time. Caching, scaling with containers, building 12 factor apps and proper configurations scratch the surface.
A good example is Walmart, it has adopted a technology called node.js at a very early stage and it has played an active role in its forming years. A whole development culture has sprung around it, it releases products as open source and it stimulates the industry around it, so that it in turn reaps the benefits and remains aware. It has gone so far it has started Walmart Labs.
For more information, go to https://github.com/walmartlabs
