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

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

#211

Post by [deleted] »

nraynaud wrote: post #198
jameshart wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

this has been answered, it's not possible. It's about making substantial business in the US. The territorial water is 12 miles wide, it's far. Exclusive economic zone is 200 miles wide, it's really far. Who want to be that far from the coast in the winter without a good reason on the most powerful and dangerous ocean? In the article they say 3 to 7 miles, that's completely territorial and for a good reason: on the fi…

[deleted]

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

#212

Post by 14113 »

jmillikin wrote: post #44
VikingCoder wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An earthquake can cause a tsunami. Depending on conditions, the tsunami wave could be hundreds of feet high. So, not earthquake "proof."

Tsunamis are not giant walls of water like what you see in disaster movies. They're more like an unending tide: the water just keeps rising until it floods the area. Anything floating loose on the water at the time is at risk of being carried inland, but is unlikely to be completely destroyed. A floating data center barge anchored a mile offshore is as close as you can get to tsunami-proof. At worst, its connection t…

Hence why they're also sometimes called "Tidal waves"

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

#213

Post by ctdonath »

nikcub wrote: post #191
ctdonath wrote: post #139

Anyone consider what the real estate & taxes savings will be with this? For high demand areas where you'd like to set up a data center, something offshore might save a fortune in land costs and property taxes alone.

It likely can't be justified on power and real estate costs alone. There are counties in Oregon that give away land and provide very cheap hydro power for data centers.

I was referring to areas where real estate is extremely expensive, and data demands warrant close proximity thereto - such as San Francisco. Floating a data center on "free" water surface may be cheaper yet still have thick short data pipes to intended customers.

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

#215

Post by larrys »

dsl wrote: post #157
joezydeco wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, "Buy N Large" was the fictional Costco-like store from Pixar's WALL-E.

I suspect the name may just be to confuse anyone trying to look into it. "By and Large" returns over 250 million results in Google. Anyone looking to find permits, job postings, or random government filings would need to dig through tons of unrelated cruft. This is done pretty often for shell companies, they will have names like "Twisting River" or just "Investment Vehicle VII, LLC"

If you want to throw people off the beaten path (and you have google's money) it would be trivial to acquire a small company or even create one from scratch that actually does something, anything rather than give a name which is sure to scream "shell company" and get people's sniffers out.

They could have probably found a way to take even the name that was similar to an overseas company that has a connection to shipping, maritime etc. and simply do a variation of that (and make it in a way that doesn't infringe any trademarks).

That way all the pain in the ass bystanders would simply jump quickly to the obvious wrong conclusion and move to something else.

My point being is that if you are truly trying to hide something then at least put some effort into creating a good distraction.

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

#216

Post by larrys »

joezydeco wrote: post #19
apaprocki wrote: post #14

There are actually 4 "vessels". Look at the names -- using binary :) BAL0001 BY AND LARGE LLC * * C & C MARINE & REPAIR LLC 2010 Freight Barge 2164.0 249.6 BAL0010 BY AND LARGE LLC * * C & C MARINE 2011 Passenger Barge (Inspected) 2520.0 260.1 BAL0011 BY AND LARGE LLC * * C & C MARINE 2011 Passenger Barge (Inspected) 2520.0 260.1 BAL0100 BY AND LARGE LLC * * C & C MARINE 2012 Freight Barge 2164.0 249.6

FYI, "Buy N Large" was the fictional Costco-like store from Pixar's WALL-E.

Noting that the domain byandlarge.com was registered in 1998 by a "domainer".

Interesting. The movie came out in 2008.

But the film concept dates to the mid 90's so most likely that concept was the first use of that name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E

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

#217

Post by ademarre »

pilsetnieks wrote: post #150
yk wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two types of reports, fraudulent ones and real ones. The fraudulent ones will come from everywhere, while the real reports come only from pirate infested harbors. Therefore just subtract the mean report density and what remains should be random fluctuations around zero plus the real reports. So if a harbor has more than some threshold of reports, then it is pirate invested.

At this point in the discussion, you could probably correlate it with the number of the letters "R" in the reports. Because we all know that it's the pirates' favorite letter.

Arrrrgh you would think so, but no, it's the C.

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

#220

Post by Surio »

radiorental wrote: post #182
stevenrace wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While we're speculating on the meaning behind the name(s) RE:wind, remember that Google acquired Makani Power a while back. They build wind generated power systems using large kites. What better place to put them into production than at sea where there isn't much worry about crashing to the ground. http://www.makanipower.com/home/

unlikely that the Makani planes would be run from a ship. They each have a huge arc, much larger than the diameter of a traditional turbine. Furthermore, what's the concern with them crashing in to the ground? It's not like they plan to install them directly over populated areas.

>> unlikely that the Makani planes would be run from a ship.

Something like this, perhaps: http://www.skysails.info/english

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