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What platforms is it hosted on? Did that have anything to do with who is helping out?

i'd speculate that Google is brought in because it is good PR, and Oracle, well, it sounds like healthcare.gov backend is running something like 4-6 node RAC (most probably Exadata). Good luck to them as they would really need it :)

Google SREs have a lot of experience managing very complex systems with very little downtime. There're certain architectural patterns and practices you can use if you want to keep a large distributed website highly-available.

Oracle I'd imagine is there for expertise with specific technologies.

Also, it's worth remembering that these are specific engineers who volunteered, and not their employers. So a lot is really who was willing to do it.

In light of recent events, I do have to wonder what their motive is to lend assistance. Kickbacks? Future contracts? A promise not to embarrass their corporate officers with information snagged by the NSA?

My guess is checks. Very large checks.

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