How Servers does Google have? 1 Mil cumulative in July 9, 2008

Microsoft's exiting CEO Steve Ballmer said Microsoft has a million servers.

 At the Microsoft World-Wide Partners Conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that “We have something over a million servers in our data center infrastructure. Google is bigger than we are. Amazon is a little bit smaller. You get Yahoo! and Facebook, and then everybody else is 100,000 units probably or less.”

Google reached its million server cumulative mark in July 8, 2008.

How many servers does Google employ? It’s a question that has dogged observers since the company built its first data center. It has long stuck to “hundreds of thousands.” (There are 49,923 operating in the Lenoir facility on the day of my visit.) I will later come across a clue when I get a peek inside Google’s data center R&D facility in Mountain View. In a secure area, there’s a row of motherboards fixed to the wall, an honor roll of generations of Google’s homebrewed servers. One sits atop a tiny embossed plaque that reads JULY 9, 2008. GOOGLE’S MILLIONTH SERVER. But executives explain that this is a cumulative number, not necessarily an indication that Google has a million servers in operation at once.

When will Amazon reach a million servers?  When will Facebook?  Is it really that big of a deal.  Maybe if you are media and you are looking for a story.

To give you how clueless some people are.  Who cares how many servers.  The important thing is how many cores are there in the environment?  The number of cores and the quality of them is what is important to run services.  Not the number of servers. D'Oh.

The next thing that will hit the Data Center Companies, The Truth, The Reality of where their path leads to

I have been writing about a bunch of other things besides data centers.  In some ways what gets discussed in the media about data centers is getting old and boring.  So what if Microsoft builds a data center in Finland as part of the acquisition of Nokia's phone devices?  $250 mil spent over years is probably a data center in the 10-15MW range with 40% spend on the data center, 40% spent on the equipment and 20% for various other costs to run the data center.  Data centers are now discussed broadly in the media.  The data center media has morphed as the people have changed jobs or companies have been acquired.

What is up with the data center industry?  6 months ago I would say the big are getting bigger, the small are getting smaller, and the middle is keeping quiet as they find it harder to do business.

What do I say now?  The truth in data centers will be driving many changes in data centers.  Those who contribute to hype will decrease.  To be cost competitive, you need to save money.  But making people do more with less, is not necessarily the best way long term if designs are not well thought out.  To optimize a solution overall, you need to see the truth of what works and what doesn't.  Shaving costs can create a whack-a-mole problem.  I have heard of people who reduce their construction costs by eliminating work typically done and making it part of the operations team.  Or designs that sacrifice best practices in operation, increasing operating costs and reduces availability.

I have heard rumblings of changes.  Data Centers are not easy to run, they can be temperamental if not designed right.

Marilyn Monroe

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.” 
― Marilyn Monroe
 

Here are a few more quotes of the "truth" that can be applied to data centers.

Oscar Wilde

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” 
― Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

 

Gloria Steinem

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” 
― Gloria Steinem

 

Aldous Huxley

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” 
― Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays 2, 1926-29

 

Time to upgrade to Galaxy Note 3 from Galaxy Note 1, the power of the pen

In Feb 2012 I bought a Galaxy Note 1. Why because I was and still working on mobile services and we needed something different than what was the solutions for consumers.  I have no regrets with the Galaxy Note 1, but it is getting slower with SW updates.  The battery is worn down.  I have convinced others to get the Galaxy Note 2 which has better performance and battery life.

I bought a Galaxy Note 8 for Tablet experience and now rarely use the iPad.  Being able to write and replace paper notebooks feels better for the way I work and think.  The Wacom Bamboo stylus is a nice pen device.

Today Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 3 and I am ready to replace the Galaxy Note 1.

The press is pro-Phablet now.  Whereas at the beginning the media made fun of the Phablet.

Here is one review of the Galaxy Note 3.

Samsung Galaxy Note III preview

Two years ago, at a consumer electronics show in Berlin, Samsung took to the stage and unveiled the introduction to what is now a booming smartphone genre. The 5.3-inch monstrosity, called the Galaxy Note, has blossomed into one of the Korean manufacturer's biggest brands. Today the same company is unveiling the Galaxy Note 3, the second sequel in a series of supersized stylus-smitten smartphones, which is even taller, narrower and thinner than the first two of its kind. As expected, the new 5.7-inch Note not only utilizes a S-Pen but enhances its functionality and adds better hardware and components to ensure it's able to handle anything you can throw at it.

The Samsung marketing group is pushing the Note harder.

GALAXY Note 3 makes your everyday life amazing

"We introduced the original GALAXY Note in 2011 and launched a whole new smart device category. The undeniable success of the GALAXY Note strengthened our conviction that consumers want higher quality features for smart devices and they want those new features to make their lives better," said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung GALAXY Note 3 is a powerful, original approach that enables users to tell the stories of their lives through dynamic and seamless expressions of their passions across work, play and life experiences. With a simple click of the S Pen button, users can unlock opportunities for self-expression, features that transform everyday activities into extraordinary events and access to new experiences delivered to them on Note 3's larger screen."

Now I don't look so silly saying the ideal device for a revolutionary mobile service is the Galaxy Note.  The Note 3 looks awesome.

Kindle is winning with an Integrated solution - Latest win in Japan

I have used the Kindle since the 1 and i am getting ready to upgrade my 2-3 year old devices to the latest that will get announced this month. I use Kindle on Android more often than the Kindle devices, but that may change with the new devices.  I used to buy lots of kindle books.  But, recently have switched to just checking out kindle books from the King County Library System for free.  Well it is not free as my property taxes support the library.  I don't have to pay per book to rent the Kindle e-books, and if I can't read it in 21 days, there is a good chance I wasn't going to read it.

Om Malik has a post on the success of the Kindle in Japan.

Kindle is big in Japan — some lessons for hardware’s future

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12 HOURS AGO

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kindle paperwhite
SUMMARY:

The future of hardware is a tight symbiosis of hardware, software and connectivity and content as a service. Whether it is apps, books, movies or anything else — the more you engage with a platform, the more likely it will beat rivals. Amazon is a good example.

Jeff Bezos had a vision to change book purchasing and he is succeeding.

Their ongoing battle, as highlighted by the New York Times story, reminded me of an essay I wrote in March 2011: Why the future of hardware is services.

Back then, I pointed that the future of hardware was a tight symbiosis of hardware, software and connectivity and content as a service. It was vital to ensure that we are constantly engaging with the devices. For instance, there’s Sonos, a wireless audio system that allows you to listen to Spotify and other music services and as a result finds constant usage. Without those services, the hardware becomes just dumb hardware and ends up in the back of the drawer.

The reason why Amazon wins is because it has coupled a service (books/content) to the device and made it dead simple to buy. There is a network connection built into the service as well and to purchase a book is simply a click because it has a pre-existing commercial relationship with customers. I for certain am not going to sign up for Kobo or Barnes & Noble — and I think this is the crucial difference. Amazon has a much deeper (and longer) relationship with consumers who use it to shop for more than just books.

Amazon has won the ebook reader battle.  Microsoft threw in the towel in 2012 after 12 years of attempting to participate with its  Reader Technology.

In August 2011, Microsoft announced they were discontinuing both Microsoft Reader and the use of the .lit format for ebooks at the end of August 2012, and ending sales of the format on November 8, 2011.[2]

Amazon won this battle vs. competition based on its integrated solution and its business model of giving away readers for other platforms and selling the Kindle hardware for as low as they could justify to gain market share.  I have ordered the latest 2nd gen paper white device.

NewImage

What is the next kindle device?  They were smart enough to get in early enough with the Kindle Fire.  Phones?  You know there are dozens if not hundreds of people along with Bezos dreaming of what could be the next hardware. watches, phones, cars.  What is the Amazon brand going after next?