Google allows peek into data hubs
Source: Agencies |
October 18, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
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 e-mail for millions of people.
The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled yesterday at www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc already has running in the United States, 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 via 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, California.
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 roadmap 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, e-mail 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 on Tuesday in Europe, where regulators told Google to revise a seven-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 US$23 billion through the first half of this year.
Google's need for so many computers has made it a major electricity user, although it says it's looking for ways to reduce power consumption.
The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled yesterday at www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery. The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc already has running in the United States, 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 via 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, California.
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 roadmap 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, e-mail 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 on Tuesday in Europe, where regulators told Google to revise a seven-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 US$23 billion through the first half of this year.
Google's need for so many computers has made it a major electricity user, although it says it's looking for ways to reduce power consumption.
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