If the big Goo asks the forum admin to take down the thread, let me know, I've made a copy.
Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
11–20 of 40 posts
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#12This is a bit of a longshot. But I am looking for switch hardware that have gigabit fiber and speaks OpenFlow for a FTTH project.
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/hamina/
Early 2009. Date lines up with how old the ex-engineer thinks the device might be (3ish years old). So perhaps the Finnish text is explained by this being a piece of Hamina Data Center's original networking gear. "Ex-Google engineer J.R. Rivers — who now runs a networking outfit called Cumulus Networks — says this appears to be an older switch, something that has been used for about three years or so"
A friend who used to do networking stuff for a global bank had good things to say about Nokia networking gear.
So I guess there are good networking hardware engineers in Finland, and it's not a stretch to imagine Google might have bought some of them up somewhere along the way.
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#14I often hear about Google's custom hardware. Are there any other large tech companies (who are not hardware companies) that build/design their own hardware to run internally?
Yeah, most major ones
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/11/server-world-be...
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#15I often hear about Google's custom hardware. Are there any other large tech companies (who are not hardware companies) that build/design their own hardware to run internally?
At Bloomberg, we design almost all of our branded hardware in-house, from the terminals (monitors/keyboards)[1] to the B-UNIT authentication devices[2]. There are also other internal datacenter hardware projects.
[1]: http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/winstontj/Trading/Ha... [2]: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_iHYDAo93tQY/S3m5Jd5nHOI/AAAAAAAAGY8/oB...
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
Early 2009. Date lines up with how old the ex-engineer thinks the device might be (3ish years old). So perhaps the Finnish text is explained by this being a piece of Hamina Data Center's original networking gear. "Ex-Google engineer J.R. Rivers — who now runs a networking outfit called Cumulus Networks — says this appears to be an older switch, something that has been used for about three years or so"
A friend who used to do networking stuff for a global bank had good things to say about Nokia networking gear. So I guess there are good networking hardware engineers in Finland, and it's not a stretch to imagine Google might have bought some of them up somewhere along the way.
Nokia has been hammered in the past couple of years and has shed[1] and will be shedding more[2] jobs over the next several quarters. Google and other technology companies have probably been circling Finland for a number of months now trying to identify and intake the best talent they can find.
[1]http://www.bgr.com/2012/03/22/nokia-to-cut-1000-jobs-from-fi...
[2]http://www.bgr.com/2012/06/14/nokia-layoffs-2012-vertu-restr...
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#17The Wireshark capture showing BOOTP was interesting. I don't live in the networking world anymore, but I thought BOOTP had gone the way of Gopher by now.
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#18I often hear about Google's custom hardware. Are there any other large tech companies (who are not hardware companies) that build/design their own hardware to run internally?
At Bloomberg, we design almost all of our branded hardware in-house, from the terminals (monitors/keyboards)[1] to the B-UNIT authentication devices[2]. There are also other internal datacenter hardware projects. [1]: http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/winstontj/Trading/Ha... [2]: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_iHYDAo93tQY/S3m5Jd5nHOI/AAAAAAAAGY8/oB...
White bunit ;( makes me miss my days there. Always surprised they never sold them, its the best authentication device I've seen.
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#19I often hear about Google's custom hardware. Are there any other large tech companies (who are not hardware companies) that build/design their own hardware to run internally?
At Bloomberg, we design almost all of our branded hardware in-house, from the terminals (monitors/keyboards)[1] to the B-UNIT authentication devices[2]. There are also other internal datacenter hardware projects. [1]: http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u298/winstontj/Trading/Ha... [2]: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_iHYDAo93tQY/S3m5Jd5nHOI/AAAAAAAAGY8/oB...
BTW, do you know, why Bloomberg switched from the old, more comfortable B-Units (as pictured above) to the new black ones, which dont feature a full fingerprint reader any more (instead you have to slide your finger over a smaller sensor)?
The old design was way more comfortable, faster and produced less errors in my experience...
Re: Google Networking Device Appears in Small-Town Iowa
#20Networks are a fundamental part of the Google infrastructure. Ask yourself a couple of questions and then you can answer the questions about Googles motivations.
1) Is there any switch that does only what you want? Have any of the features you didn't need interfered with your uptime?
2) In a 48 port high performance switch which is more expensive? The switch or the cables? Why?
So if you 'do the math' the obvious answer sort of pops out.
Disclaimer: I worked there and agreed not to discuss any platform technologies until such time as either Google talked about them publicly or they were disclosed by other means not related to me.