Thursday, October 09, 2008

Offshoring Data

Here is an article speculating on Google's plans to literally offshore its servers:

Google may take its battle for global domination to the high seas with the launch of its own “computer navy.”

The company is considering deploying the supercomputers necessary to operate its internet search engines on barges anchored up to seven miles (11km) offshore.

The “water-based data centres” would use wave energy to power and cool their computers, reducing Google’s costs. Their offshore status would also mean the company would no longer have to pay property taxes on its data centres.
This plan seems to be the result of a strange confluence of large-scale computing, environmental, and tax accountancy concerns. It seems a very strange solution to any of them.

It also may give a whole new meaning to "computer piracy."

3 comments:

  1. I think we'll find that Ernst Stavro Blofeld is in charge of this operation, and as soon as it's up and running we'll get a ransom note threatening a fearsome electromagnetic pulse leading to collapse of the global information infrastructure if we do not put SPECTRE in charge.

    Where's Bond, James Bond when we need him?

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  2. Diabolical.

    Somehow I still find SPECTRE a more likely name for an organization bent on world domination than GOOGLE.

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  3. Well you know, Google is Aramaic for SPECTRE; all of this is in Nostradamus, like with Hemingway you just have to read the words that aren't there.

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