Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Huge Data Center Looks Like a Circuit Board

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the hopefully-the-inside-is-as-advanced-as-the-outside dept.

1sockchuck writes to share a look at Digital Beijing, the data center for the 2008 Olympics. The huge (1.05 million square feet) building was designed to resemble a circuit board from 2 sides and a barcode from the other 2 ground-viewable sides. Looks like the nighttime view of this monster is going to be pretty impressive.

14 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Bad planning by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately, they spent so much money building such an enormous and impressive data center that they have nothing left for servers. Therefore, the IT needs for the Olympic games will be served by a single Pentium II PC on the 8th floor. They are expected to have uptime rivaling that of such giants as Amazon.com.

    1. Re:Bad planning by spun · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, this is China. They'll just pack the building full of political dissidents. Overseers with cattle prods will call out opcodes for them to process with abacuses.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:Bad planning by jonaskoelker · · Score: 2, Funny

      Everybody remember the old IBM commercial, "The Heist"?

      "No, we moved everything onto that one. It's gonna save us a bundle."

      IBM Pentium II white-box servers running... hey, it does run Linux...

  2. Half Life 2 Reference? by VeNoM0619 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does this remind anyone of the Half Life 2 building? Where it was held loosely together with lots of gaps. Very cool nonetheless.

    --
    Disclaimer: I am not god.
    We may not be created equal
    But we can be treated equal.
  3. Being in China, I guess that PCB will be... by Ellis+D.+Tripp · · Score: 2, Funny

    put together with plenty of lead in the solder, right?

    Now all they need are some counterfeit electrolytic caps puking their guts all over the windows for added effect.

    --
    Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
  4. Re:Circuit board? by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 3, Funny

    It looks like there aren't any windows. Open source architecture...?

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  5. It's a magebyte of square feet! by Hankapobe · · Score: 4, Interesting
    1.05 million square feet

    1.05 million ~ 1,048,576 -> megabyte! Cool!

    1. Re:It's a magebyte of square feet! by Freebirth+Toad · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, that'd be (10^6 feet)^2 = 10^12 feet^2 = a trillion square feet. This would be better described as a (kibifoot)^2 = a mebi(square foot).

    2. Re:It's a magebyte of square feet! by merreborn · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's a magebyte of square feet!
      Å måge ønce byt my sister...
  6. And once the Olympics are over... by pillageplunder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As quoted in the article "then be used by the Beijing municipal government's data storage and emergency-response command."
    Really!? Like...that conjures up all kinds of thoughts in a paranoid mind. That is quite a lot of computing power for a major city to use by itself. (wink wink). Imagine all of the data connections that were once used for sporting news now being utilized for...GTA? Well, Buick and Cadillac sell some serious iron in China as well.

    A follow-on story after the games would be quite interesting to read.

    --
    "Work is the curse of the drinking class" Oscar Wilde
  7. Doubleplusgood picture Minitrue by Svartormr · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Minitrue newbuilding doubleplusgood! Goodwise win chinsoc! Telescreen prolefeed doubleplusgood!

  8. Is it just me, or does it look like the Borg? by Enleth · · Score: 2, Funny

    And the phrase "resistance is futile, you will be assimilated" isn't exactly unlike the People's Republic of China...

    --
    This is Slashdot. Common sense is futile. You will be modded down.
  9. Nice building by Alex+Belits · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Let's write hundreds of responses decrying supposed oppressiveness of its look and purposes (compared to, say, Pentagon, a symbol of efficient, transparent and peace-loving government).

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  10. Re:pegged currency by Red+Flayer · · Score: 2, Informative

    It is fixed in value relative to the dollar.
    The Yuan is not pegged just to the dollar, it is now pegged to a basket of currencies, of which the USD is a component. (The Euro, Japanese Yen, and South Korean Won are the other major components).
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai