Google has posted information about, and even a guided tour of, its mysterious data centers.
Previously reluctant to share details of its data centers, Google is now offering up a wealth of information about where they keep all those adorable cat videos. A new section on their redesigned data centers page, aptly titled Transparency, leads to a collection of photos and information about what’s contained within Google’s various worldwide installations. There are also two guided tours of Google facilities. One, a video, details some of the locations in a typical data center. The other uses Google street view, normally used to traverse pictures of your favorite neighborhoods worldwide, to lead you around the facility in Lenoir, North Carolina. The site also includes information about Google’s multi-step information security system.
Featured on the datacenter tours are networking and data storage rooms, offices full of Google employees, cooling towers, and hydraulic spike presses that crush spent hard drives. For the curious, there are a few paragraphs about the various worldwide centers. You’re able to use a world map view to find the closest center to you and find out how many employees work there, see a photo, and learn about Google’s various community involvements in the area.
The street view tour of the Lenoir, NC data center includes some Easter eggs in typical Google style. Can you spot the Stormtrooper working security, or the giant Android robot?
Source: Google
