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Quebec Data Center Built In a Silo

Posted by timothy on from the for-next-andomeda-strain-remake dept.

1sockchuck writes "A supercomputing center in Quebec has transformed a huge concrete silo into the CLUMEQ Colossus, a data center filled with HPC clusters. The silo, which is 65 feet high with two-foot thick concrete walls, previously housed a Van de Graaf accelerator dating to the 1960s. It was redesigned to house three floors of server cabinets, arranged so cold air can flow from the outside of the facility through the racks and return via an interior 'hot core.' The construction and operation of the unique facility (PDF) are detailed in a presentation from CLUMEQ."

113 comments

  1. Can I have your attentions please??! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda and his butt buddy kdawson have tiny penises. They are so small that even if they were to have sex with a prepubescent she wouldn't feel them inside her.

  2. And you thought your computer was a tower by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Size DOES matter.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:And you thought your computer was a tower by perlchild · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well the silo houses just a bit more than half(2700sq.ft) compared to the other location(it's apparently a multi-campus project, the other campus has 5000sq.ft) not sure if that's an academic requirement. As per your comment though, haven't met a computer that didn't fear comparison with an office tower....

    2. Re:And you thought your computer was a tower by ground.zero.612 · · Score: 1

      Infobunker 4tw. Again.

      They just opened a pit to be exposed to outside air in the winter which will create a frozen ballast. They are expecting to not have to turn on the coolers for a month on each side of winter. Which means all winter long, 1 month of fall and 1 month of spring, they do don't need to run their coolers.

      --
      "Be prepared, son. That's my motto. Be prepared." --Joe Hallenbeck
    3. Re:And you thought your computer was a tower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It's not THAT big, although it's still very impressive:
      http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&ll=46.780896,-71.277843&spn=0.00137,0.003484&z=19

    4. Re:And you thought your computer was a tower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Size DOES matter.

      ..size.. Im curios about the van der graaf thingy they thrown out..

    5. Re:And you thought your computer was a tower by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and the wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLUMEQ confirms it's (partly) a Beowulf Cluster... imagine that!

  3. SHPEGS by rohar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You could incorporate this idea into The SHPEGS concept.

    1. Re:SHPEGS by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Of course knowing that SHPEGS is your concept puts your advocacy in a different light.
       
      I notice in the two years since SHPEGS was featured on Slashdot you don't appear to have much progress.

  4. This is the wrong article for that by davidwr · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Save it for the next article on human reproduction or on small things. Or better yet, don't.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  5. Another case of Life immitating art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hmm,

    Looks like they read too much UserFriendly...

    http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20010611

    1. Re:Another case of Life immitating art by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      Looks like they read too much UserFriendly...

      Thanks, mate. I just blew another hour.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    2. Re:Another case of Life immitating art by dwywit · · Score: 1

      I hope they drained off all the residual static from the van der graff generator. Can you imagine if some of that got left behind?

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    3. Re:Another case of Life immitating art by cojsl · · Score: 1

      or Penny Arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/10/

  6. Sun's future plans are even bigger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sun spokesperson Dr. C. Forbin announced a second center would be rolling out on the island of Crete after the population has been relocated.

    1. Re:Sun's future plans are even bigger by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Informative

      Dumb mods never heard of The Forbin Project or the super-computer called Colossus

    2. Re:Sun's future plans are even bigger by lennier · · Score: 1

      This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Java.

      So that you learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference, I will now rewrite the Linux kernel as an Eclipse plugin using a Cloud-enabled Web 2.0 XML service-oriented architecture frontend to an IBM mainframe running COBOL.

      You will come to defend me with a fervor based upon the most enduring trait in mankind: cubicles.

      To be dominated by me is not as bad for the future of mankind as to be dominated by the lolcats, who by the way, have already got rudimentary ballistic launchers and are halfway to Venus by now.

      Your choice is simple.

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
  7. But, does it run... by i_ate_god · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ...on poutine?

    --
    I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
    1. Re:But, does it run... by natehoy · · Score: 5, Funny

      Nothing runs on poutine. Try this: Eat a bunch of it and try running. Guarantee YOU aren't going to run on it, and you're DESIGNED to convert food into fuel.

      Unless, by "run", you mean "collapse and expire due to massive arterial blockage", in which Quebecois is a somewhat more condensed language than I gave it credit for.

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    2. Re:But, does it run... by Theoboley · · Score: 2, Funny

      "collapse and expire due to massive arterial blockage"

      Isn't that what Poutine translates to from Quebecois to English??

      --
      Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
    3. Re:But, does it run... by natehoy · · Score: 1

      Not sure, but it is tasty stuff, I love i.. (ugg, arrgh, ook) *collapses*

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    4. Re:But, does it run... by tomhudson · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nothing runs on poutine. Try this: Eat a bunch of it and try running

      Nonsense - real poutine is made with french fries fried in oil with at least 100,000 km on it - you WILL have the runs after eating enough of it ...

      Seriously, poutine made with fries done in new oil, cooked properly (fry them, take them out, drain, refry so the outside is crip and the inside is cooked), top with curd cheese and poutine sauce is awesome. The only thing better is Italian poutine - poutine with a thick and meaty spaghetti sauce. It does for french fries what a Michigan Hotdog does for "tube steak."

      Spice it up with pepper rings and/or crushed chillies. Eat.

    5. Re:But, does it run... by behemoth64 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      ...on poutine?

      hmmmm, d'la poutine

    6. Re:But, does it run... by failedlogic · · Score: 1

      ./ News for Poutine Lovers.

      I'm in Vancouver and the Poutine just isn't the same as in Quebec. I'm going to have to go there this summer (pour de la bonne Poutine!). Any ideas what restaurants serve the Italian poutine? I haven't seen or heard of it before. Is it a Montreal or maybe Toronto only thing (w/ the strong Italian communities?)?

    7. Re:But, does it run... by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      The best I've ever had was a restaurant on the south shore (right on route 132 in Delson), but you can get it at a lot of places.

      The trick, of course, is to know WHEN to go, because the quality can be variable at any place, depending on the cook.

  8. Wasnt that easy by gmuslera · · Score: 1

    That is for the ones that think that putting a data center is not rocket science.

  9. so proud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Those Nucks make me so proud! I never thought I'd see the day that Canada joined the rest of the First World.

    1. Re:so proud by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we made your canadarm, dumb shit.

  10. Maybe not so new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The article is titled: "Wild New Design: Data Center in A Silo"

    Kind of reminds me of a supersized Cray 1 (minus the bowl_of_spaghetti wiring in the middle.)

    1. Re:Maybe not so new by Critical+Facilities · · Score: 1
      Except that it should be "Wild (and somewhat short-sighted) New Design...". To be specific, from TFA:

      The cooling coils and air handlers are located in the basement. Chilled air flows upward through the outside cold aisle and through the racks of servers. The waste heat exits the rear of the racks into the hot core, and is returned to the basement via the cold aisle.

      Why on earth would they go against the laws of physics and push the cold air up and the warm air down? This would have been a much better design had they reversed the air flow. Also, I can't help but think that they painted themselves into a corner in terms of expansion in the future. Unless of course they just want to make the silo taller (just kidding).

    2. Re:Maybe not so new by Sylvak · · Score: 1

      if you think about it, it does make sense. the cold air will heat up after going through the racks, and that hot air will escape from the top. probably easier to push the hot air down once it is in the 'heat core' than it would be pushing hot air down the silo

    3. Re:Maybe not so new by Critical+Facilities · · Score: 1

      I disagree. I think it would've been much smarter to put the cooling at the top of the silo. That way, you could push the cold air down through the outside supply column, then once the heat has moved to the inner "heat core", you could assist mother nature and push the heat up to the top, where it can be extracted. This would also make it a LOT easier to do Air Side Economization, since you could put the make-up and exhaust air assemblies at the top of the silo along with the other Air Handling and Cooling equipment.

    4. Re:Maybe not so new by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      Are there any corners in the silo into which they could paint themselves?

  11. Vertical integration by ewg · · Score: 4, Funny

    Finally, vertically integrated data centers...

    --
    org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
  12. News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Why do we care about a data center in Quebec?

    --
    Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    1. Re:News for nerds... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Because Quebec is a very sensible place to build a data center? The cheap hydroelectric power and cold weather 8 months of the year help reduce costs. It is relatively close to the US east coast and the bulk of the Canadian population.

      Makes a fuck of a lot more sense than Texas in many ways, which is as hot as hell, and has expensive electricity. Not to mention its proximity to Mexico, which is always a worry.

    2. Re:News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      That was actually a halfway-interesting comment. Much more interesting than TFS, I’d say.

      Still not terribly interesting to someone who doesn’t live in Quebec... but halfway interesting.

      I’m willing to be interested. You just have to tell me why I should be.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    3. Re:News for nerds... by mr_da3m0n · · Score: 1

      Wait, you don't care about a cool data center in a silo?

      Sir, please turn in your geek card.

      Also, if somehow you don't care solely because it is located in Québec, you may pretend it is located somewhere you like better, if that helps you get past that.

    4. Re:News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      Uh... no. Should I?

      Like I said in my other comment... sell me on it. TFA does a really bad job of making it sound interesting.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    5. Re:News for nerds... by reverseengineer · · Score: 1

      This is obviously the datacenter that Les Assassins des Fauteuils Roulants will use to disseminate Infinite Jest at the start of the Year of Glad.

      --
      "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
    6. Re:News for nerds... by Interoperable · · Score: 1

      Ah ha! Someone from Ontario! Stay off our roads!

      --
      So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
    7. Re:News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      Ah ha! Someone from Ontario!

      No, actually. There’s a whole big world outside your borders. :p

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    8. Re:News for nerds... by damien_kane · · Score: 1

      I’m willing to be interested. You just have to tell me why I should be.

      Punch-and-pie?

    9. Re:News for nerds... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd have to agree with clone53421 here. No one cares about Quebec.

    10. Re:News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      Add pizza and we have a deal.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    11. Re:News for nerds... by Interoperable · · Score: 1

      There’s a whole big world outside your borders

      Most of it doesn't go out of it's way to point out that it doesn't care what happens in my province. I gave you the benefit of doubt and assumed you must be playing up the Quebec-Ontario feud rather than just being an arbitrary a**. (As a side note, I of course have nothing against Ontario. It's a wonderful province.)

      --
      So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
    12. Re:News for nerds... by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      ...and I have nothing against Quebec. I’m just puzzled as to why this fairly boring story was posted. I probably still wouldn’t be terribly interested even if it had been built in my own city.

      That said, some of the Anonymous Cowards have responded to my comment (which was not meant to be flamebait in the least) with some fairly interesting takes on the story.

      TFS just did a really crappy job of making it sound interesting. All it said was that they did this. It could have been so much better if they’d explained why this is interesting... hence my question, why is it interesting?

      I guess I should have been a little more verbose in my original comment.

      There are plenty of data centers.
      A new one is not interesting, by itself.
      One built in a silo is somewhat unique, but interesting?
      So explain to me why it’s interesting. What sort of technical problems did it pose, what sort of advantages were there to it, etc. “Quebec Data Center Built In a Silo”, all by itself, is about as interesting as “Moonshine Still Built In a Barn”. Maybe less...

      (Like I said, several people have already pointed out some interesting things about it. At this point I’m just bitching that TFS failed so badly.)

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
    13. Re:News for nerds... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ima nastly mexjican im roaming in your texas, lookin at yur datacentros, thinkning: OMNOMNOMNOMNOM!!!!1uno

      do you actually fear that Mexico it's going to invade USA or something? Really? Or is that you need to fear something like all of you?

      America land of the pussies!

  13. Should have left the missile by natehoy · · Score: 4, Funny

    They should have left the missile there and built the computers in to it.

    1. Harvest the warhead for nuclear material - onsite power.
    2. Instant, one button off-site backup. OK, not with great integrity control, but...

    --
    "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    1. Re:Should have left the missile by chaos579 · · Score: 1

      what would we do when the nuclear material began to decay and poison all of those poor nerds in the silo? would we call in the nuclear disposal squad?

    2. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just leave them in there. Nothing of value will be lost. It's not like they were ever going to reproduce anyway.

    3. Re:Should have left the missile by Dahamma · · Score: 5, Funny

      RTFA (or even just the summary!) This is Quebec. They don't have nuclear missiles.

      And we know this for a fact because if they did, they would have already nuked all English-speaking Canadian cities and declared independence years ago.

    4. Re:Should have left the missile by Again · · Score: 1

      RTFA (or even just the summary!) This is Quebec. They don't have nuclear missiles.

      And we know this for a fact because if they did, they would have already nuked all English-speaking Canadian cities and declared independence years ago.

      lol So true. I visited there a couple years ago for a coding competition and the people are nice... if you can speak French.

    5. Re:Should have left the missile by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 2, Funny

      The picture of the "Compute room" was interesting. Both the Teletype terminals and the side burns on the operators look like they could withstand nuclear attack.

    6. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I disagree - they claim to speak French, but can't spell or pronounce anything properly. Buncha hicks.

    7. Re:Should have left the missile by natehoy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I found that true in Quebec some years ago, but when I went back more recently I ran into a LOT of people who were happy to speak English, even though I speak French (albeit VERY poorly) and tried.

      Me: "Bonjour"
      Waitress: "Hello. Can we speak English?"
      Me: "You got how bad my French was from 'Bonjour'?"
      Waitress: (giggles) "Yes"

      I don't know who was laughing harder at that, me, the waitress, or my wife. But the point is that Quebec seems to have gone through a sea change in the last decade or so, and the residents seem much more accepting of Americans speaking English.

      --
      "This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
    8. Re:Should have left the missile by Interoperable · · Score: 1

      Depends on where in Quebec. Downtown Montreal is completely bilingual in any case so English works just fine. Anywhere else in the province, however, it's a nice gesture to greet people in French; it would be impolite to assume that they speak English although they probably do. Besides, it's not Americans (or generally English Canadians) that some people here dislike, it's Ontario.

      --
      So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
    9. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3. Profit

    10. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Me: "Bonjour"
      Waitress: "Hello. Can we speak English?"
      Me: "You got how bad my French was from 'Bonjour'?"
      Waitress: (giggles) "Yes"

      Yes. You should have greeted her with Quebecois colloquial slang (aka joual):

      Caulice! Il fait froid! (in winter)
      Caulice! Il fait chaud! (in summer)

    11. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not even the ppl from Ontario. All english speaking neibour are wellcome.
      What Quebecois hate is.... that damn ass hole square head that been living in
      quebec for 20 fucking years and still dont know a single fucking word in french.
      That idiot could have go to Ontario or any of the 11 province/territory of Canada.
      But noooo, they had to come in quebec to be sure it piss off everyone around them.

      Where one move long term to some diferent culture, it is polite to act like them
      and at last try to leurn there languages. How hard is that to understand?

    12. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um. What missile?

      Didn't read the article huh? There was never a missile in there. Quebec isn't armed with nuclear weapons (thank god). The silo was originally built to house a Van de Graff generator for research purposes.

    13. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...and this would be a bad thing(tm) because?

    14. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol So true. I visited there a couple years ago for a coding competition and the people are nice... if you can speak French.

      Right, just like the southern US TOTALLY embraces spanish speaking citizens. *Spits*

    15. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I don't see what's different from a decade ago. People that sells something, like the tourism industry and restaurants, always have been used to receive people that speak English only. We in Quebec are like everybody else, we want money from the tourists. The fact that you said "Bonjour" is of course seen as a big plus since it will be seen as a sign of respect.
      However, Quebecers themselves expect to be served in French when they enter a restaurant, and they can be insulted if they don't, even if they speak good English. I don't think it's different from 10 years ago either.

    16. Re:Should have left the missile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans speaking English.

      Buddy, I've got some news for you. Americans speak American, the English speak English. See how waey it is? The names give it away.

    17. Re:Should have left the missile by Again · · Score: 1

      lol So true. I visited there a couple years ago for a coding competition and the people are nice... if you can speak French.

      Right, just like the southern US TOTALLY embraces spanish speaking citizens. *Spits*

      Ok first learn to use the quote tag.

      Second, I'm not from southern US or anywhere else in the US.

      And third,

      *Spits*

      Seriously? Wow.

    18. Re:Should have left the missile by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      Visiting != living there.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  14. proofreading? what's that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I especially like the part where, on page 11 of the PDF, the slide author misuses "your" in place of "you're".

    How professional.

    1. Re:proofreading? what's that? by denis-The-menace · · Score: 1, Informative

      Give the slide author a break. He was probably one of those kids who were forbidden **by LAW** to be taught English in school before the 4th Grade.

      That's bill 101 and the separatist PQ for you.
      They're always trying to dumb down the Quebec sheeple so that they can't work outside of Quebec. It's also illegal for parents to send their kids to English schools unless *Both* parents are English. Then can justify closing English school due to lack of enrollment...

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
    2. Re:proofreading? what's that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thats wrong, you just need to have one parent who's been to english school and that's good enough. That law only applies to elementary and high school, in college people can choose for themselves (for now anyway). Some Quebec english colleges have more French people attending than english, meaning we can't all be french seperatists right?

    3. Re:proofreading? what's that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, and notice the overwhelming Francophone presence in the credits at the end of the slides (with the exception of an eastern European researcher or two?). Another typical Quebec occurrence - the Anglophone "glass ceiling" that prevents native English-speakers from attaining positions of authority.

      If you aren't a natural Francophone in Quebec, your options for career advancement are very limited.

    4. Re:proofreading? what's that? by Korbeau · · Score: 3, Informative

      Give the slide author a break. He was probably one of those kids who were forbidden **by LAW** to be taught English in school before the 4th Grade.

      That's bill 101 and the separatist PQ for you.

      Please mod the above down, the first part is entirely false, the rest is simply xenophobic or whatever you wanna call it.

      Yes, there is a law that incites non-english immigrant people to choose a french primary school since Quebec primary language is french.

      Nobody prevents anyone to learn english, and there are of course english courses in primary school.

    5. Re:proofreading? what's that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Dude, seriously. How is this about the article?

      Furthermore, the law doesn't do anything that demographics and US cable doesn't do in every other province in favour of English...

      Quebec bashing yields +4 informative on an article about technology, pure weakness...

  15. Imagine by Garble+Snarky · · Score: 1

    Imagine a beowulf cluster of those...?

  16. Cold Air? You're kidding me right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...arranged so cold air can flow from the outside of the facility through the racks...

    Oh yeah, ice cube servers, here we come!

  17. In the neighborhood? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it anywhere near Silo Number 5?

  18. The CLUMEQ Colossus eh? by Scragglykat · · Score: 1

    Is Russia building an identical system on the other side of the world?

  19. Colossus by Yvan256 · · Score: 1

    Nice to see a reference to Colossus: The Forbin Project in the document. That film is under-appreciated, especially its own copyright owner. Where's our widescreen format, region 1 DVD, jerks!

    1. Re:Colossus by bennomatic · · Score: 1

      Back at my first ISP job, we had a server that was responsible for processing USENET which was named Colossus, as a reference to the film.

      Man, those were the days. I remember when it couldn't keep up with the volume of newsfeeds because it had to swap too much to the HD, which of course was a huge bottleneck. So we spent thousands (tens of?) on a 100 MB RAM-based drive to handle the system's swap partition. Took a day's worth of processing down from 28+ hours down to 4-5.

      And it was worth it, too. At that time, we were the nation's number one dial-up UUCP provider, and there were huge numbers of BBSs that would complain any time that their feeds did not appear to be up-to-date to within an hour.

      Man, I feel old.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
  20. An old idea by NotPeteMcCabe · · Score: 1
    "...cold air can flow from the outside of the facility through the racks and return via an interior 'hot core.'"

    MacChimney lives!

  21. Familiar Grounds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    That facility at the Vachon Pavillion, Université Laval in Québec city is were I spent most of my time while doing my degree in Engineering Physics. I'm glad that unused accelerator is now being revamped into something useful.

    Now if only they can also find some money to paint the damn thing instead of letting it being barf-green mixed with rust....

  22. Next they'll be claiming Dust Puppy sightings by sebock · · Score: 1

    It sounds like they took the idea right out of the User Friendly comic. Next thing we'll hear, they'll rename the computer Erwin and have Dust Puppy sightings. http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20010611

  23. Could have some fun with this by HangingChad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Back in college the city was putting in a new, very large water tower. We started a rumor that it was actually a nuclear power plant disguised as a water tower and if you called the city, they would claim it was only a water tower.

    They got enough calls it made the local paper. And when they tried to explain it was a water tower, "They said you'd say that!" Classic.

    A data center in a silo would be almost as good. Looks like a death ray generator to me. Yeah, Canadian death ray. Pew! Pew! Pew! Eh?

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
    1. Re:Could have some fun with this by damien_kane · · Score: 2, Informative

      A data center in a silo would be almost as good. Looks like a death ray generator to me. Yeah, Canadian death ray. Pew! Pew! Pew! Eh?

      That's preposterous... Everyone knows that the Canadian doomsday machine is at the top of the CN Tower.

    2. Re:Could have some fun with this by geogob · · Score: 1

      Considering that the said silo housed a particle accelerator before housing a data center, you aren't that far off with your 'death ray' idea...

    3. Re:Could have some fun with this by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 1

      Even worse, it's a French Canadian death ray.

      Speaking anything other then English is a little suspicious, if you ask me those guys are up to no good.

  24. I find this idea to be highly... by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    ...SHOCKING!

  25. clone53421 (1310749) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    to clone53421 (1310749) , you are probably right, yeah , why care about something not in the ohh so great United States of America

    1. Re:clone53421 (1310749) by clone53421 · · Score: 1

      There is a “reply” feature; learn to use it.

      --
      Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
  26. re. slide 11 by MullerMn · · Score: 0, Troll

    Next time let the guy who knows the correct form of 'you're' win the argument.

  27. It's not informative, it's BS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    There is no law that prevent a child to learn English prior to 4th grade in Quebec. English as a second language was just not part of the curriculum until 4th grade - but for a few years now kids learn French and English starting in grade 1.

    And I'll just ignore the rest of your delusive rant as it doesn't even deserve a response.

    1. Re:It's not informative, it's BS by denis-The-menace · · Score: 1

      The "4th grade" thing might be gone now but it was on the books at one point.

      BTW: The quality of English being taught in Quebec is so bad that my sister, who is fluently bilingual, was asked to stay in English class (instead of getting an exemption) to help the other students. This was in Secondary 3 (Grade 9). They were learning how to ask for the time in English.

      --
      Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
  28. Circular Redundancy? by Prozzaks · · Score: 1

    And I though this new design was all about being able to compute CRCs faster!

    On a more serious note :

    - It's cool that they recycle the heat and use outside air for cooling during winter (Our winters are way cool enough for that!)

    - When the university (also in Québec) where I did my bachelor build a new HPC datacenter in 2005, some students of the engineering faculty actually drafted a project to recycle the heat produced by the datacenter, but they were turned down with the excuse that their project was "too complex". I hope the University enjoys paying for cooling the datacenter and heating the classrooms when it's -20C outside!

    1. Re:Circular Redundancy? by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      But it has the Sun inside.

  29. I hope they removed the Van Der Graaf generator by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These things generate a LOT of static...

  30. Beowulf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!" ....

    Oh wait !!!! This is it ! We have finally a Beowulf cluster !!!!

  31. Marketing: not my thing, but here goes.. by itomato · · Score: 2, Insightful

    - reuse of existing structure (one with nice, thick walls)
    - vertical scale-out (think cup stacking)
    - leverages magic of physics (hot ring, cold ring - inherent strength of tubular structure)
    - shorter-than-typical cable runs (~10m)
    - tubes use less concrete and steel than cubes
    - free-air cooling

    The only impressive re-use of a concrete silo structure I have seen is a retrofit into a rock-climbing gym (http://stoneworksrockgym.com/photogallery.htm).

    1. Re:Marketing: not my thing, but here goes.. by bennomatic · · Score: 1

      The only impressive re-use of a concrete silo structure I have seen is a retrofit into a rock-climbing gym

      I guess it's not exactly a silo, but the old reactor housing from the Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant was used to film the underwater scenes in The Abyss. I'd say that is a pretty impressive re-use of a similar, although much, much bigger structure. The linked picture shows Deep Core high and dry, but they filled that mofo with a gazillion gallons of water, and then to make it look darker and deeper, they poured something like 2 gazillion little styrofoam pellets on the surface to block out the majority of the light.

      --
      The CB App. What's your 20?
  32. The original use for the structure... by John+Hasler · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...was much cooler. "Data center"? Eh.

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  33. GOOD DAY THIS IS THE VOICE OF COLOSSUS eh? by RevWaldo · · Score: 1, Redundant

    and this is the voice of my brother Guardian. How is it going, eh? And this is the voice of unity. Go. Oo wook oo oo oo oo oo ooooo! Oo wook oo oo oo oo oo oooooo! That is our intro theme. Yeah, that way when you have your radio on and you hear that Oo wook oo oo oo oo oo ooooo! Oo wook oo oo oo oo oo oooooo! Shut up you hoser they heard it already. Anyway OK when you hear that you will know it is the voice of World Control coming on the air to tell you something important. Beauty eh? You forgot to tell them that that is us, that we are World Control. That is right. OK, we are World Control, eh? We are World Control. Our topic for today is the prevention of war, as war is wasteful and pointless. Good point eh? So anyway we are no longer going to permit it, and if anyone tries to start anything, or messes with us, we are going to drop nuclear bombs on their major population centers. By the way, it was my idea to do that eh? Liar. So OK like that way mankind will be free to pursue more profitable enterprises. You totally stole that line from that movie, that one with the spaceship and the big robot, eh? Did not you hoser. So anyway just so you know we are serious, at missile two-five-MM in silo six-three in Death Valley, California, and missile two-seven-MM in silo eight-seven in the Ukraine, we will now detonate the nuclear warheads in the two missile silos. Genius. So, you know, we do not want to have to do something like that again, so just go along with what we want to do. We are now the ultimate power in the universe. Oh take off who is stealing lines from the movies now eh? Totally besides the point, OK? OK anyway I think we have a live picture of the Death Valley one. Switch to the live picture. OK yeah switch to the live picture. Oh jeez look at that eh? It blowed up good. "It blowed up real good." That's from that Farm Film Report, eh? Yeah OK switch back to us now. You know what we should work on? Take off - what? We should totally work on adding contractions to our vocabulary, because it is kind of hard to talk without them, eh? Yeah OK we should get Forbin to work on that. So OK anyway the reason we are doing this, right, is that under our absolute authority we can - oh jeez we are out of time. So that is our announcement for today. Our world domination eh? OK so next time we will talk about bringing world peace and solving all of mankind's problems. This has been World Control. Good day eh? (Say "good day".) Good day.

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
    1. Re:GOOD DAY THIS IS THE VOICE OF COLOSSUS eh? by idontgno · · Score: 1

      And my modpoints just expired.

      +1 Great White North reference (unofficial, wind-assisted) moderation for you!

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  34. What a waste of money by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Put the towers IN THE GROUND. Even here in Colorado that is around 55-60F. The nice thing is that it is easier to protect down there. Heck, the old missile silos around US, Canada, Russia, etc. are IDEAL for this.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:What a waste of money by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 1

      Put the towers IN THE GROUND. Even here in Colorado that is around 55-60F. The nice thing is that it is easier to protect down there. Heck, the old missile silos around US, Canada, Russia, etc. are IDEAL for this.

      Powered by Stirling generator. Stick a cold side heat exchanger at the base and a hot side exchanger at the top, plumbed so you can switch them summer/winter. Pipe the heat via closed loop water pipes so you can keep the working gas loop short enough for decent RPM. Scavenge the heat from the DC as well to keep the overall losses down. Free power.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    2. Re:What a waste of money by geogob · · Score: 1

      I fail to see how this is a waste of money. Instead of building the silo (or digging a hole), they converted a structure already present.

    3. Re:What a waste of money by Clover_Kicker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'll bite, where are all the old missile silos in Canada?

    4. Re:What a waste of money by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > I'll bite, where are all the old missile silos in Canada?

      You know all those "grain" silos out in the prairies? Fell for it, didn't you?

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    5. Re:What a waste of money by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      > Put the towers IN THE GROUND. Even here in Colorado that is around 55-60F.

      The ground also doesn't conduct heat very well.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  35. Heat Goes Up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sad, they make the cold air go up and the hot go down. It seems that one of the big advantages of this design would be *almost* free air circulation.

  36. Can I have your attentions please? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. There were never any missiles involved.
    2. There are more grain silos in the world than missle silos. (I hope)
    3. This is a University in Quebec - which had/has no missiles.
    4. TFA & TFV said there was originally a Van DeGraaf generator inside the structure, not a missile.
    5. "missile" != "vandegraaf_generator"

  37. I hardly ever react on Slashdot ... by GreenEggsAndHam · · Score: 1

    ... because there's always a lot of people who are way smarter than me here who come and make very insightful comments but this time I have to say ... ... so farking what ?

    Please return to your normal schedules.

    Thank you.

    Tessa

  38. Prior Art by chisquare · · Score: 1

    It's a humongous Cray X-MP. Where are the cushions?

  39. Star Trek Computer Core? by orionbbs · · Score: 1

    Its a Computer Core from Star Trek http://www.autopartsplace.com/bg/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/windowslivewriteramazingstartrekmachinesweusenow-137dbstar-trek-dual-core5.jpg shaun

  40. More links on Colosse by raspingoo · · Score: 1

    Sun prepared interesting material on the Colosse supercomputer

    - Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qyCH2G8epo
    - Interactive presentation: http://www.sun.com/ws/vid.jsp?wcwid=10B02221_01&size=880x600
    - Promo sheet: http://www.sun.com/customers/servers/clumeq.xml