The Heavenly Data Center

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación, considered one of the most beautiful data centers in the world, is a public research center located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It hosts MareNostrum, a 1,017.04 TFLOPS Xeon E5649-based supercomputer that, in November 2015, was ranked 93rd in the world.

Why heavenly? Because this data center is located in a former 1920’s Christian Chapel, named Torre Girona, at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Established on April 1, 2005, it is managed by a consortium composed of the Spanish Ministry of Economy (60%), the Government of Catalonia (30%) and the UPC (10%). The professor Mateo Valero is its main administrator. The Barcelona Supercomputing Center which has contributed to the development of the IBM Cell microprocessor architecture, has an initial operational budget of €5.5 million/year (about US$7 million/year) to cover the period 2005–2011.

Once inside, you will see that the MareNostrum supercomputer is contained inside an enormous glass box. This supercomputer installed in 2004 with more than 10,000 processors to process 94 trillion operations per second is now 25 times more powerful (capable to process more than 1 quadrillion operations per second). In other words, this computer could make in an hour what a regular computer would do in a year… Well that’s more than impressive! One more thing: Do not go to the mass over there to ADDRESS YOUR PRAYERS! It’s not a Chapel anymore and you do not have the necessary credentials to get in! Say your Alleluia at home! A Word to Salvation!

The World Most Stylish Data Center

The World Most Stylish Data Center…….!!!!!!!! I am seeing you people wondering: “Wait what? Are we talking about mode here, about style? About Gucci or Zara? Stylish…Data Center? What the hell!” I understand your concern but I can explain. This data center has outstanding features that obviously make it outstand in the list of existing data centers. You are definitely about to discover one of the 8 Wonders of our planet Earth. Yes, there are actually 7 Wonders in the world but let’s make an exception here, shall we?

Bahnhof, one of the Sweden’s most popular web hosts, has a data center located in an abandoned nuclear bunker, code named Pionen White Mountains during its military days, designed to withstand a near-direct nuclear strike! WOOOW! Yes, I know. Converted in 2007-2008, this underground data center, resting below nearly 100 feet of solid rock is fit for a spy with simulated daylight, greenhouses, waterfalls… The design was allegedly inspired by old science fiction movies from the 70’s such as Logan’s Run, Silent Running, Star Wars and James Bond movies as well.

Regarding its physical security, this amazing data center already almost impossible to break in since it is underground, is sealed off from the world by entrance doors 16 inches thick. Fittingly, its secureness appeals international organizations such as WikiLeaks, a famous international online non-profit organization that publishes secret information, new leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. Regarding the Power Supply, the back-up system is powered by old submarine engines. Isn’t that cool? I am definitely working there if I get the opportunity! What about you?

Inside a Google Data Center

Let’s talk about something you already know: Google! Google is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, and software. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998". In 2004, Google moved to its new headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. Its mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. To organize the world’s information, you need to be well prepared. Because before organizing the information of the planet, you need to store it… But where? In a Data Center of course! Let’s buckle up and go for an interesting trip inside a Google data center then!

According to Google employees, a Google data center is the Brain of the Internet, its Engine, consisting of row, upon row, upon row of machines all working together to provide the services that make Google function. They are right. The Google Data Center that we will discover is located in South Carolina and is one node in a larger worldwide network of Google Data Centers. Regarding the physical security of this data center, the access is monitored by various layers of security which levels grow higher, the closer we get into the data center. For instance, to enter the data center campus, we need to wipe a badge that has to be on a pre-authorized access list. The core of the data center, the networking rooms are the highest level of security. They even have under floor intrusion detection via laser beams in their colocation rooms. Secondly for the power supply, the high-voltage power is provided by an overhead power distribution that brought the power from the generators in the power plant. Thirdly, for the cooling process, unlike in most of the data centers where air conditioning units placed along the perimeter walls force under the floor cold air that raises up to cool the servers in the cold aisle, in this data center, the server racks are put right against the air conditioning units, where cold water flows into copper coils to help cool the servers. The hot air generated by those servers passes through the coils, where the heat from the air is transferred to the water. That warm water is brought to the cooling plant to be cooled down and returned back to the colocation rooms: the cycle starts over again.

Google is also very concerned about the staff working hard in this data center for who was designed a fun environment to play hard too. And this will be the terminus of our journey!