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Great article. It's nice to see journalists do actual investigative work, even if it is for something like this. Today's "journalism" seems to be all link-bait opinion pieces mixed in with copy-pastes from twitter.
Something similar is being outfitted in Portland, ME. http://www.pressherald.com/news/Clues_emerging_about_mystery... The OP is a much better article (The Press Herald is garbage). My original guess for the barge-building in Portland was a ocean-based prison facility for the government to use for interrogations. But it's seeming like the floating data center idea is much more likely.
I hope they fit it with sub-surface portholes and webcams. The article keeps saying "huge", but really that's tiny for a ship. Google could buy an old cruise liner and fit several of those inside. Or maybe Google is going to buy more little ships and plonk one of these in each? I hope that they have adequate security, because all that gold and copper is worth stealing for some people.
another cool thing about floating data centers in california is they're pretty much earthquake proof... built in shock absorbers (aka water). You can probably charge a premium for easily accessible highly secure data I would imagine. ... assuming megalodon isn't still around
An earthquake can cause a tsunami. Depending on conditions, the tsunami wave could be hundreds of feet high. So, not earthquake "proof."
A floating data center barge anchored a mile offshore is as close as you can get to tsunami-proof. At worst, its connection to the mainland would be severed if the tsunami destroyed the local land-based telecom infrastructure. Any data located on the barge would still be intact until communications could be restored.
Seems pretty telling to me, with the patent and coffee shop cashier testimonial. I wonder how the hardware will hold up to the environmental harshnesses of the open water? Or even just sea spray...
How do you get a patent for a "floating data center"..
Earlier quoted context omitted.
FYI, "Buy N Large" was the fictional Costco-like store from Pixar's WALL-E.
I kind of doubt that these two names are related except that they both derive from the same common idiom.