Google's new data center in Finland • Hacker News Board

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#11

Post by iuyhgtfvgbhjn » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 3:35 PM UTC

sushi wrote: post #8

zeemonkee wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've only been to Hamina once (nice harbour BTW) but I don't recall if there was a university or technical college there. I'd have thought Helsinki/Espoo, Tampere or Oulu would have been better for communications and near to recruitment grounds.

You are right. Helsinki/Espoo, Tampere or Oulu would have been far better choices from the point of recruitment but this is a large piece of land and probably Google didn't want to let it go. Besides they must have thought the name Google is enough to get smart people where ever they want. btw this is what centre of Hamina looks like : http://torikamera.haminetti.net/user/toricam.html

I assume they are getting a big chunk of local/national/eu grants to support the depressed area and a quick pass on building/environmental permits which you wouldn't get for building it in the capital.

Plus as the article says - this is really the St. Petersburg/Stalingrad/Leningrad data center without the political problems of having to keep renaming it.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#12

Post by mhb » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 3:42 PM UTC

How big an issue is corrosion when using sea water for cooling? I thought this was why fire departments don't use salt water to put out fires.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#13

Post by Retric » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 3:55 PM UTC

mhb wrote: post #12

How big an issue is corrosion when using sea water for cooling? I thought this was why fire departments don't use salt water to put out fires.

They probably use a two loop system so most of their pipes are not filled with salt water.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#14

Post by jparise » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 4:43 PM UTC

Interestingly, Nokia started off as a Finnish paper mill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia#Pre-telecommunications_er...

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#15

Post by Marticus » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 5:50 PM UTC

I believe this is the final answer for water-cooled systems, haha.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#16

Post by paulitex » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 6:09 PM UTC

Was anyone able to glean Google's plans for the huge volumes of heated sea water 'waste'? I sure hope they're not planning on just pumping it back into the Baltic - warming of the world's oceans and seas is a very serious problem (see http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/temperature-ocean-... for a summary).

It seems this only shifts their heat dissipation problem from having to cool servers to having to cool large quantities of sea water. Perhaps the latter is an easier problem to solve (gigantic outdoor cooling tubs?) but I don't know.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#17

Post by jonknee » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 6:17 PM UTC

paulitex wrote: post #16

Was anyone able to glean Google's plans for the huge volumes of heated sea water 'waste'? I sure hope they're not planning on just pumping it back into the Baltic - warming of the world's oceans and seas is a very serious problem (see http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/temperature-ocean-... for a summary). It seems this only shifts their heat dissipation problem from having to cool servers to having to cool la…

Many power plants heat sea water (either for steam or cooling), I think the ocean can handle a data center just fine.

Update: I should add that I'm all for environmental study to make sure that they aren't venting it out in a sensitive ecosystem or at a radically different temp. Done correctly this can be an important development towards sustainable data centers.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#18

Post by icco » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 6:17 PM UTC

I'm kind of confused why we care. It's another data center, big whoop. I am worried about the waste from warming sea water, but other than that, meh?

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#19

Post by jdminhbg » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 6:18 PM UTC

paulitex wrote: post #16

Was anyone able to glean Google's plans for the huge volumes of heated sea water 'waste'? I sure hope they're not planning on just pumping it back into the Baltic - warming of the world's oceans and seas is a very serious problem (see http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/temperature-ocean-... for a summary). It seems this only shifts their heat dissipation problem from having to cool servers to having to cool la…

This would have to be one hell of a data center to have an appreciable effect on the temperature of the Baltic Sea.

Re: Google's new data center in Finland

#20

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Sep 16, 2010, 6:46 PM UTC

zeemonkee wrote: post #6

sushi wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah It's almost 2 hours 15 minutes drive from Helsinki but driving is the only option to reach Hamina. There is no rail system connecting Hamina (there was one, no longer operational). I have been closely following the news about this particular datacenter and it really is strange that Google hasn't found enough engineers for the job there. I have been seeing the ads for the jobs at Hamina datacentre since last one…

I've only been to Hamina once (nice harbour BTW) but I don't recall if there was a university or technical college there. I'd have thought Helsinki/Espoo, Tampere or Oulu would have been better for communications and near to recruitment grounds.

[deleted]