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What Kind of Data Center Can You Build With $500M?

Posted by samzenpus on from the bejeweled-server-closet dept.

coondoggie writes "So, if the government gave your company $500 million to spend on building a new data center what would you buy and how would you build it? Well, the Social Security Administration is about to find out. As part of the stimulus bill, or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the SSA got the tidy little sum to replace its National Computer Center. The SSA in fact says it will need closer to $800 million to fund a new IT infrastructure, including the new data center — the physical building, power and cooling infrastructure, IT hardware, and systems applications. (This is addition to a $72 million backup facility currently under construction in Durham, North Carolina)."

15 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. A really strong neural net... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    At $8.95/45 specimens (http://sciencekit.com/harvester-ants%2C-live/p/IG0034483/), the newly constructed Hex would have the most powerful neural net we've ever seen!

    But that wouldn't leave any money for the clacks...

  2. Die Hard 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Die Hard 4 pretty much set the standard for design here.

  3. We don't need no stinkin' data center. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Build? I'd take it as a retention bonus and retire. I just want to immulate our most sucessful bankers.

    1. Re:We don't need no stinkin' data center. by Bandman · · Score: 2, Funny

      the typo was really close to immolate...probably psychological

      --
      Check out my sysadmin blog!
  4. Re:Sharks with frikken lasers by Bandman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Exactly.

    Just copy the general ideas of this datacenter in Sweden.

    Sharks and laser beams would fit right in.

    --
    Check out my sysadmin blog!
  5. Something modest by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then spend the rest on hookers and blow.

    Hey, the gov't does that all the time, why are you staring at me like that??

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
  6. What Kind of Data Center Can You Build With $500M? by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    Data Center: $10M*

    Hookers and Beer: $490M

    *I reckon I could get that down to $6M by cutting corners though, so that's another $4M for the beer :)

    --
    Summation 2
  7. Simple by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    200m for me, 200m for you, 100m for the guy in India who builds a data center.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. Re:Ummm.... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, he could have asked the government or investment bankers...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Easy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'd by 5 Macs ...

    (I love Macs, but damn ...)

  10. Why do they need a data center that large? by ciellarg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Congress has already bankrupted the SSA fund, so all they need is one computeer that can add and subtract "0" very quickly....unless they need something that can divide by zero :)

  11. Re:The Unfortunate Reality of Maintaining Legacy by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Funny

    The problem is not that the COBOL coders are retiring. The problem is that the government made the decision to rewrite the code 20 years too late. Everybody else knew the language was dead.

    If this were a commercial company, they would go out of business for making such a stupid decision.

  12. I'd do the right thing... by steveb964 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Cardboard box, tin cans and string.

    I'd then proceed to give the rest to support the bailout of the severely ailing and deserving auto and financial institutions.

    sb

    1. Re:I'd do the right thing... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

      Once you're done bailing out the deservingauto and financial institutions, you should still have about 499m left (let's assume you bought a LOT of boxes, tin cans and a few miles of string...).

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  13. Re:I do know by CorporateSuit · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or they could do something really novel like let *me* handle *my* own money bypassing SS entirely.

    Careful, you try not paying your taxes and Obama will tap you as a cabinet member so fast your head will spin.

    --
    I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.