Server Farms of the Future

If your business owns it’s own server hardware, there’s a good chance that there’s a thick coat of dust covering it right now. Most SMBs have no idea as to the kind of environment their server should be in – which is a shame considering that it’s probably one of the most expensive pieces of equipment in the office.

 

A good server room should have 3 things: climate control, premium security and a constant source of power. To show you how serious a business taking caring for them can be, we’re going to take a look at how the tech biggest names in tech do it:

 

Facebook’s Ultimate Backup Solution

 

Facebook is in the process of building a state of the art data centre christened ‘Sub-Zero.’ It’s being built next to their existing 330,000 sq foot centre in Oregon – but with more modern technology.

 

It’s no secret that servers can use a lot of power. Facebook plans to get around this by designing servers that power off when not in use. This is perfect for long term archiving and backup. This is referred to as cold storage — hanging on to data that you can’t delete but don’t need to get at very often. And it should save Facebook a lot in power costs. Right now a rack of Facebook servers burns about 4.5 kilowatts. In the Sub-Zero data center, the goal is to drop this to around 1.5 kW.

 

Apple’s Mysterious Data Centre

 

Apple is tight lipped in just about anything that they do – and their data centre is no exception. What we do know is that it plans on using Bloom Energy Cells, which turn biogas into electricity. It’s going to need a lot of them though. This facility is 500,000 sq feet, designed to accommodate Apple’s iCloud. Maybe that’s why they’re backing it up with a 100 acre solar farm.

 

 Google’s Cool Solution to Overheating

 

Few companies have as much data to manage as Google. With Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Documents, Google Translate and Google’s cloud storage, there’s a lot to store. One of their more ambitious projects is located in Finland, where it plans on using sea water to keep their facility cool. Not only is Finland a naturally cool place, but one thing they have in abundance is water. Originally a 56 year old pulp and paper mill, Google decided that the underground tunnels leading to the Baltic Sea were perfect inlets for a cooling system. A solution that’s as green as it is efficient.