Jason Dunn
11-19-2005, 02:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"So why buy-up all that fiber, then? The probable answer lies in one of Google's underground parking garages in Mountain View. There, in a secret area off-limits even to regular GoogleFolk, is a shipping container. But it isn't just any shipping container. This shipping container is a prototype data center. Google hired a pair of very bright industrial designers to figure out how to cram the greatest number of CPUs, the most storage, memory and power support into a 20- or 40-foot box. We're talking about 5000 Opteron processors and 3.5 petabytes of disk storage that can be dropped-off overnight by a tractor-trailer rig. The idea is to plant one of these puppies anywhere Google owns access to fiber, basically turning the entire Internet into a giant processing and storage grid."</i><br /><br />Another thought-provoking article from Robert X. Cringely. Will it come to pass? Who knows - but what I do know is that despite all of Microsoft's best efforts, they're always several steps behind Google when it comes to Web-based applications and services.