Google presumed builder of floating data centre: Report

Thought data centre will require :-

(1) Reliable power supplies (at least 2 separate power feeds) will be require to power the network equipment, servers, UPS, CRAC units, lighting etc.

 

Thought power will need to come from the power stations through the power grid. If not how to provide power of thousands of Kilowatts to power up the data centre?

Unless, the floating data centre make use of power generator and backup power generator – use in large commercial ships to power the energy needs of the ships.

(2) Data Centre need to be connected to outside world such as Internet, provide network connectivity to customer organisation such as DWDM, SONET/SDH, MetroEthernet, ISDN, frame relay, leased lines, MPLS, fibre connections, ADSL, cable modems, telephony, hosting services, SAN storage connections etc. Provide cabling connectivity such as fibre connections, coaxial cables, copper cables, submarine cables etc. – but Data Centre if it is a floating structure, cabling will become a big challenge as it need to be protected from corrosion by sea water. Also being a floating structure, it means the Data Centre will drift and move in tandem with the sea waves – and cabling will have to be able to withstand the tension from the drift and will not break.

Unless this floating Data Centres only provide wireless connectivity like satellite, 3G/4G network, microwave, wimax, wifi, super-wifi, free-space optics etc. – then it is feasible. But the only catch is, the wireless network has much smaller bandwidth as compared to wired network (bandwidth speed can be very high eg. 10Gbps, 40Gbps, 100Gbps etc - unmatch by wireless bandwidth) that is required of running a Data Centre – where Data Centre is an “aggregation of services” where hosting services converged and public will all need to access the hosting services through the connectivity pipe between the Data Centre and the public – and a wireless Data Centre – will be clogged by congested network traffic.

Running a floating Data Centre – will definitely be a challenged – let see how Google can overcome the challenge. If Google can overcome these challenges, then it ill be new avenues of building Data Centre - and will be useful for places that lack land spaces to build Data Centres.