The future of data center design

I just read that the NSA is going to build a 20 acre data center in Utah. This one million square foot center will allow the NSA to decentralize its efforts and provide better security. Just imagine the amount of power it will take to operate a data center of this size? This Slashdot article points out that one of the biggest reasons why the government is building this compound is due to its power consumption and the current location’s inability to provide  the needed electricity. The government estimates that it will use at least 65 megawatts of power or about the same amount that Salt Lake City consumes.

“The agency got a taste of the potential for trouble January 24, 2000, when an information overload, rather than a power shortage, caused the NSA‘s first-ever network crash, taking the agency 3 1/2 days to resume operations. The new data center in Utah will require at least 65 megawatts of power” – Salt Lake Tribune

Another cool data center design is the one that Google is planning to build. The entire center will be built on a floating barge, and will use the waves of the ocean to help power the facility. It will also use ocean water to cool the equipment.

Last, but not least, is the underground data center in Sweden. This has to be the coolest data center ever! It is located underground, can withstand a hydrogen attack, has a waterfall and a greenhouse. It can generate its own power, and is equipped with triple redundancy Internet backbone access.

I wonder, what type of environmental monitoring sensors do they have? What type of redundancy and fail-safes? Designing a data center like these is a monumental task. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Data Center Design.

– Jimmy D

Tags: Add new tag, climate control, Data Center, data center security, environmental monitoring, Jimmy D, power cooling, Uber Geek