Great pictures of their Data Center.. Most of them are classic pictures even from photography point of view.. you have to visit to enjoy these breathtaking pictures.. definitely reminded me of thermal power plant where I used to visit as child with my dad.. although 90% of that plant was really dirty and ugly.. still used to fascinate me at that time.. now these newer cleaner..
Off course these Data centers also have ugly side.. which is hidden in those power plants who churn out thousands of megawatts of electricity to power them.. Here we only see cleaner part.. but behind the scene there is whole lot ugly and dirty pictures in power plants (whatever kind of it may be).. mines.. I think, Google should also post pictures of power plants and mines for the power sources of their Data Centers. Some stats on their power consumption and how much CO2 they emit annually (even with +/-20% range to hide actual real numbers is okay.. ). I don't know how much CO2 will be emitted to host this blog?
It makes me go on internet dieting... forces me limiting my time on internet and bytes I transfer or host.. That will be something like going on Oxygen dieting (consume less Oxygen and emit less CO2 from your own body..).. I don't think that will be possible as long as humanity is their on this planet earth.. Whatever we do, our energy consumption is bound to increase.. let us see what is limit of this planet..
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all/12
Virtual window looks
into Google data centers
Search giant gives an online tour of its computer sites
By Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube video clips and distribute email for millions of people.
The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday at www.google. com/ about/ datacenters/ gallery. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google already has running in the U.S., Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.
Virtual tours of a North Carolina data center also will be available through Google’s “Street View” service, which is usually used to view photos of neighborhoods around the world.
The photographic access to Google’s data centers coincides with the publication of a Wired magazine article about how the company builds and operates them. The article is written by Steven Levy, a journalist who won Google’s trust while writing “In The Plex,” a book published last year about the company’s philosophy and evolution.
The data centers represent Google’s nerve center, although none are located near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View.
As Google blossomed from its roots in a Silicon Valley garage, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked with other engineers to develop a system to connect low-cost computer servers in a way that would help them realize their ambition to provide a digital road map to all of the world’s information.
Initially, Google just wanted enough computing power to index all the websites on the Internet and deliver quick responses to search requests. As Google’s tentacles extended into other markets, the company had to keep adding more computers to store videos, photos, email and information about their users’ preferences.
The insights that Google gathers about the more than 1 billion people that use its services has made the company a frequent target of privacy complaints around the world. The latest missive came Tuesday in Europe, where regulators told Google to revise a 7-month-old change to its privacy policy that enables the company to combine user data collected from its different services.
Google studies Internet search requests and Web surfing habits in an effort to gain a better understanding of what people like. The company does this in an effort to show ads of products and services to the people most likely to be interested in buying them. Advertising accounts for virtually all of Google’s revenue, which totaled nearly $23 billion through the first half of this year.
Even as it allows anyone with a Web browser to peer into its data centers, Google intends to closely guard physical access to its buildings. The company also remains cagey about how many computers are in its data centers, saying only that they house hundreds of thousands of machines to run Google’s services.
Google’s need for so many computers has turned the company a major electricity user, although management says it’s constantly looking for ways to reduce power consumption to protect the environment and lower its expenses.
The company’s data centers are in: Berkeley County,S.C.;CouncilBluffs, Iowa; Douglas County, Ga.; Mayes County, Okla.; Lenoir, N.C.; The Dalles, Ore.; Hamina, Finland; and St. Ghislain, Belgium.
The Web link coincides with aWiredmagazine article on how Google builds and operates its data centers.
CONNIE ZHOU/GOOGLE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Google technician works on some of the computers in The Dalles, Ore., data center. A website gives viewers a tour of Google’s nerve centers.
Off course these Data centers also have ugly side.. which is hidden in those power plants who churn out thousands of megawatts of electricity to power them.. Here we only see cleaner part.. but behind the scene there is whole lot ugly and dirty pictures in power plants (whatever kind of it may be).. mines.. I think, Google should also post pictures of power plants and mines for the power sources of their Data Centers. Some stats on their power consumption and how much CO2 they emit annually (even with +/-20% range to hide actual real numbers is okay.. ). I don't know how much CO2 will be emitted to host this blog?
It makes me go on internet dieting... forces me limiting my time on internet and bytes I transfer or host.. That will be something like going on Oxygen dieting (consume less Oxygen and emit less CO2 from your own body..).. I don't think that will be possible as long as humanity is their on this planet earth.. Whatever we do, our energy consumption is bound to increase.. let us see what is limit of this planet..
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/all/12
Virtual window looks
into Google data centers
Search giant gives an online tour of its computer sites
By Michael Liedtke
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube video clips and distribute email for millions of people.
The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday at www.google. com/ about/ datacenters/ gallery. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google already has running in the U.S., Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.
Virtual tours of a North Carolina data center also will be available through Google’s “Street View” service, which is usually used to view photos of neighborhoods around the world.
The photographic access to Google’s data centers coincides with the publication of a Wired magazine article about how the company builds and operates them. The article is written by Steven Levy, a journalist who won Google’s trust while writing “In The Plex,” a book published last year about the company’s philosophy and evolution.
The data centers represent Google’s nerve center, although none are located near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View.
As Google blossomed from its roots in a Silicon Valley garage, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked with other engineers to develop a system to connect low-cost computer servers in a way that would help them realize their ambition to provide a digital road map to all of the world’s information.
Initially, Google just wanted enough computing power to index all the websites on the Internet and deliver quick responses to search requests. As Google’s tentacles extended into other markets, the company had to keep adding more computers to store videos, photos, email and information about their users’ preferences.
The insights that Google gathers about the more than 1 billion people that use its services has made the company a frequent target of privacy complaints around the world. The latest missive came Tuesday in Europe, where regulators told Google to revise a 7-month-old change to its privacy policy that enables the company to combine user data collected from its different services.
Google studies Internet search requests and Web surfing habits in an effort to gain a better understanding of what people like. The company does this in an effort to show ads of products and services to the people most likely to be interested in buying them. Advertising accounts for virtually all of Google’s revenue, which totaled nearly $23 billion through the first half of this year.
Even as it allows anyone with a Web browser to peer into its data centers, Google intends to closely guard physical access to its buildings. The company also remains cagey about how many computers are in its data centers, saying only that they house hundreds of thousands of machines to run Google’s services.
Google’s need for so many computers has turned the company a major electricity user, although management says it’s constantly looking for ways to reduce power consumption to protect the environment and lower its expenses.
The company’s data centers are in: Berkeley County,S.C.;CouncilBluffs, Iowa; Douglas County, Ga.; Mayes County, Okla.; Lenoir, N.C.; The Dalles, Ore.; Hamina, Finland; and St. Ghislain, Belgium.
The Web link coincides with aWiredmagazine article on how Google builds and operates its data centers.
CONNIE ZHOU/GOOGLE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Google technician works on some of the computers in The Dalles, Ore., data center. A website gives viewers a tour of Google’s nerve centers.
