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Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

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171–180 of 250 posts

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#171

Can somebody explain the point behind the secrecy? What does Google have to gain by taking all these steps to hide they're the ones building it?

google is always incredibly secretive about their datacenter technology. it's a big advantage to be able to run a datacenter more cheaply and efficiently than your competitors.

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#173

> putting data centers inside shipping containers is already a well-established practice. Is this true? Does anyone know why? The article seems to assume it without saying why.

http://www.docker.io/

https://www.docker.io/the_whole_story/

(Don't downvote me. I'm obviously joking.)

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#174
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is somewhat of a tangent, but how is the tech scene in Portland, ME? It's my hometown and I've had thoughts at various times about returning and setting up shop.

It really depends on what you want to do. If you want to raise capital and build a startup here, don't. Or, at least, do so but with your "real" headquarters in Boston, NY or CA. There's a strong effort to try and get things going, but there's a definite lack of capital and the capital you can find in other places will send you a consistent message: "We don't want you in Maine, move here instead." There are some oppo…

For reference: I spent the first 20 years of my life in Maine.

>If you want to raise capital and build a startup here, don't. Or, at least, do so but with your "real" headquarters in Boston, NY or CA.

Ah, yeah. I'm in NYC now. I figured that if I started something in Maine, I'd be on the Noreaster on a semi-regular basis. I wouldn't be looking for an angel investor and would be bootstrapping instead.

>but the school closest to Portland is looking to close its physics department

Physics isn't Comp Sci, but I get your point. USM was my first school before transferring, so ouch.

>If you have or can develop a remote-work type position, it's a great place to live and work from (as long as you can get good, reliable bandwidth).

That's sort of what I'm thinking for at least a few years. I'd be looking to buy a place on the West End and then start my own shop when it's reasonably paid down (3-5 years).

>But if you want to start a software-focused startup ... honestly ... it's an uphill battle.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. It definitely helped me put some things back into perspective.

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#175
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is somewhat of a tangent, but how is the tech scene in Portland, ME? It's my hometown and I've had thoughts at various times about returning and setting up shop.

Adding onto justinsteele and numbsafari ... I've been working remotely since 2007 because there aren't a ton of jobs up here except for large-shop Java and .net work, and that really wasn't for me. It's kinda surprising how many people live in Portland and work remotely, and it seems like I keep discovering more all the time. But as far as startups go, I think numbsafari nailed it. I worked for a smallish company bac…

>It's kinda surprising how many people live in Portland and work remotely, and it seems like I keep discovering more all the time.

That's what I'd be doing at first. It's such a nice city, but business just can't seem to stick.

>I worked for a smallish company back in the mid-2000s, and it's likely that things have changed, but back then the tech-related investors wanted you to move to Boston

Ha! My first job was at GWI.net. I didn't realize how lowly paid Maine tech was until I moved.

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#177
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is somewhat of a tangent, but how is the tech scene in Portland, ME? It's my hometown and I've had thoughts at various times about returning and setting up shop.

The "scene" is cool. There are local meetups, some small, some mid sized. Monktoberfest just drew quite the crowd. As the other commenter said, there ain't much for investment though, and the companies are a mix of web boutiques, large companies (Unum, Idexx, etc), and a startup here or there. I work remotely, which gives me the benefits of being in Portland while making a NYC salary, but even when I was working for…

>I work remotely, which gives me the benefits of being in Portland while making a NYC salary, but even when I was working for a Portland firm I was still making a good wage.

I'd be looking to do something similar actually (I'm in NYC too). What kind of work is it predominantly? You mentioned web boutiques and that's sort of what I was expecting.

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#178
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "scene" is cool. There are local meetups, some small, some mid sized. Monktoberfest just drew quite the crowd. As the other commenter said, there ain't much for investment though, and the companies are a mix of web boutiques, large companies (Unum, Idexx, etc), and a startup here or there. I work remotely, which gives me the benefits of being in Portland while making a NYC salary, but even when I was working for…

+1, I've been working remotely from Portland for 11 years now, great place to live but tech jobs are scarce vs. Boston, NYC, SF.

Are you a remote-worker as well? My concern would be that my company in NYC would decide to let me go remote, then change its mind due later about telecommuting and it would put me in a rough spot.

Re: Is Google building a hulking floating data center in SF Bay?

#180
post #20

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.

I was thinking exactly the converse: why so much effort for gossip? It's pure tech celebrity gossip in my opinion and brings nothing to the party. Why not spend some more effort on the link between google and NSA? We still don't know how they steal our data.

Don't you think that one of the interesting issues raised by a floating data center might be a jurisdictional one? Is it possible that google is actually considering putting some of their infrastructure beyond sovereign control? Maybe this isn't just gossip...
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