Posts on Google's Seven Years of Data Center history

For something different I posted the Google's Seven years of data center history on GigaOm.  Why?  Because I thought it was a good story to tell and the reach would be much broader on GigaOm vs. this blog.   The GigaOm post went up yesterday afternoon and the post made it to the home page.

The GigaOm post is here.

Google opens up on seven years of its data center history

• BY Dave Ohara, GigaOM Pro
• 4 Comments

Google opened up on its data center operations today at an industry event in Phoenix. It shared how its thinking and practices have changed as it seeks to lower the costs and environment impact of its servers and IT infrastructure.

photo: Google

Google’s head of data center operations provided a seven-year look at how the search giant’s data center strategy has evolved during the 7×24 Exchange conference on Tuesday in Phoenix, Ariz.,providing a new look at the secretive search giant’s operations. From the company that pioneered the idea that the data center is no longer a place to keep servers, but rather a computer in and of itself, this evolution is eye-opening.

I got a nice bump in traffic.  Here is what I have so far as of 9a PT.  Note: the traffic for today should be much higher as the day progresses as only 9 of 24 hrs are shown.

The social traffic looks good with 452 tweets.

CNET picked up on the GigaOm post and created their own.

In an extension of its data-center glasnost, Google is offering an in-depth profile of its evolving strategy in center management.

During the 7×24 Exchange conference today in Phoenix, Joe Kava, the VP of data centers for Google, delivered a presentation giving an intimate look at how the company's data-center strategy has evolved, according to a GigOm report. Kava began his presentation with a seven-year timeline of Google's data-center history that showed the progression of the search giant's strategy.

DatacenterKnowledge threw up an entertaining post on the alligator in the storm pond.

Alligator Patrols Google’s Data Center

• By: Rich Miller
  November 13th, 2012
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Google Adopts Water as key to save Energy in Data Centers, pumps 3.85x better than fans

Data Center traditionally uses raised floor and in room CRAC units to supply cooling.

Google shared a month ago its hot aisle containment with water heat exchange which is the 5th iteration since 2006.

Google shared its thinking in evaluating heat removal methods.

So should you pump heat or use a fan?  Google modeled a 10MW IT load. The fans use 3.85x more energy than a pump!!!

Google found what it had created was so unique they could patent the innovation.

Google's Data Center Water use spans from ocean to reclaimed to industrial to storm to none

Joe Kava, VP of Data Centers at Google presented a keynote session at 7x24 Exchange Phoenix.  

One of the topics Joe discussed is the range of water used to cool Google's data centers.  Many discuss one technology as the best.  Google shows the wide range it uses to be the most efficient and sustainable at multiple sites. 

Sea Water in Hamina

Reclaimed Water is used in Georgia.

Industrial Canal Water in Belgium.

Storm Water in South Carolina.

And No water. or least little in Ireland.

Joe has been talking about water use in Google Data Centers since 2009.  Below is a video of Joe presenting at the 2009 Google Efficient Data Center Summit discussing the use of storm canal water in the cooling systems

Two Google Data Center Videos, the 2nd one 2X the traffic in 3 weeks vs. 3 yrs

On Youtube you can see two videos Google released on its data centers.

3 years ago, Google released its first video showing one of its data centers.

The 2nd video released three weeks ago.

Went viral much quicker and had almost double the traffic in only 3 weeks vs. 3 years.

With data like this it would seem Google will continue to release its own data center videos.

Wired's Steven Levy tells the Google Hamina Story - mines, views of Russia, sizzling water, swirling blood & batman

Wired's Steven Levy has an insider story of Google's Hamina data center.  It is entertaining.  Here are a few parts that caught my eye that I wouldn't put in a story, but I am not Steven Levy.

And as with most of Google data centers, the company’s secrecy fomented loony speculation about what those geeks were up to. In this case a rumor sprung up that Google had planted mines in the sea to keep away fishermen.

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But the signature feature of the Hamina center arose from its coastal setting on the Gulf of Finland.This allows Google to claim, on a very clear day: “I can see Russia from my data center!” The border is only 40 miles away.

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The pipes are color-coded: Blue represents cool water, and orange is hot. Both sea water pipes and those carrying hot water from The Floor go into giant heat exchangers whereupon the chilly seawater heats up and the sizzling data center water cools down. (Another connection to the sea is a thick fiber cable that Google submerged to connect the Hamina center to the rest of Europe.)

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The space is a vast industrial ruin, big and high enough to entertain a reasonable amusement park. It has its own misty microclimate, the dust sometimes stirred by dive-bombing birds. Basically, it’s the kind of place where the early Batman might wind up fighting an all-star squad of marquee villains.

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The highlight of the Hamina tour is tracking the journey of the seawater, the swirling blood of this data center.

I've gone to Finland and the custom of following a hot sauna with a dip in cold water is a tradition at the Hamina data center.

When Google bought the site, the sauna remained, and in keeping with its egalitarian ethic, the company opened this once-exclusive perk to all employees. Local Googlers accustomed to the true Finnish regimen are welcome to dash out of the hot steam room for a dunk into the same chilly seawater that cools Hamina’s servers.