It's often been rumoured that sooner or later the big G will choke on the amount of data needed to index the entire Internet.

Now Google CEO Eric Schmidt has admitted that "Machines are full, We have a huge machine crisis" when it comes to server storage.

The New York Times says a major expense of their escalating battle lies in the very nature of the Internet services realm: the digital engine rooms and power plants that must be built to support it. Google does not disclose technical details, but estimates of the number of computer servers in its data centers range up to a million.

Google reported a doubling in its rate of capital investment, mainly in computer servers, network equipment and space for data centers, and said it would spend at least $1.5 billion over the next year.

With many Webmasters reporting missing pages and even entire sites from the main Google index being dropped - is it any wonder Google is having to splash out all that money for new gear to keep ahead of MSN and Yahoo?

Makes you kind of miss the old Lego setup, eh Google?