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The World's Largest Data Centers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can-i-visit dept.

1sockchuck writes "It seems data centers are getting bigger all the time. Who has the world's largest server farm? Data Center Knowledge has put together a list of 10 huge data centers, all between 400,000 and 1.1 million square feet. The story highlights the trend toward ever-bigger data centers, such as the Vegas SuperNAP and Microsoft's container data center, as well as established behemoths like the NAP of the Americas in Miami and Lakeside Technology Center in Chicago."

20 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Gaze and be amazed at the sights and the strength by Luke+has+no+name · · Score: 3, Funny

    I love networking and datacenters... it seems very exciting to me to think about designing and maintaining a datacenter like that.

    This was one of the most exciting threads I've ever read on Slashdot, if that tells you anything.

  2. Hmm by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Google didn't make the top 10? I'm shocked!

    1. Re:Hmm by Luke+has+no+name · · Score: 4, Funny

      They have 750 server farms vying for 11th.

    2. Re:Hmm by jimicus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh come on. Put the crack pipe down.

      Every OS has its quirks. Windows has bluescreens, Unix has kernel panics. And even if you put together a hardware/OS combination that isn't particularly vulnerable to such things, you've still got application software to deal with.

      When you categorically must have the system as a whole working, when "oh dear that server just died horribly" is not allowed to cause the system as a whole to come crashing down, redundancy is very much a critical issue - I don't care if you're talking about Windows, Linux or VMS.

  3. 1.3 million square feet by OzPeter · · Score: 4, Informative

    While it won't be filled up with computer equipment, Quality Technology Services just bought the former Qimonda fab plant in Richmond VA for use as a data centre. At 1.3 million square feet it ranks (according the link) as one of largest in the USA. Who knows how much of it will be actually used, as I heard an interview with the CEO that said one of the reasons they bought the site was because it had "room for growth".

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    1. Re:1.3 million square feet by value_added · · Score: 3, Funny

      [T]he CEO that said one of the reasons they bought the site was because it had "room for growth".

      I too have room for growth in my Command Center, just as soon as I finish clearing out that stack of old magazines where the router and CB Radio are sitting. Hmm. Come to think of it, I need another power strip.

  4. Is A BotNet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    considered to be a "Data Center"?

    Yours In Astrakhan,
    Kilgore Trout

  5. Re:And only 8 months behind schedule by Em+Emalb · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll take Guys who post in the wrong thread for $500, please Alex.

    "This guy more than likely uses firefox and has at least two tabs open on slashdot." /hits buzzer

    "Lucas123."
    "Correct!"
    "I'll take Guys who post in the wrong thread for $600, please Alex."

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  6. Re:And only 8 months behind schedule by Em+Emalb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, ones day I'll get you, Trebec! /shakes fist angrily.

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  7. Ruined my view by blackchiney · · Score: 2, Funny

    I used to live right across the street from the Terramark NAP in downtown Miami. Then the fuckers put up 3 big satellite dishes on the roof and blocked my view of the bay. I'm not bitter but I used to get so much tail with that view. :-)

  8. The 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since the site is being clobbered and doesn't have a huge datacentre...

    10. The SuperNAP, Las Vegas (Switch Communications)
    9A and 9B. Microsoft Data Centers in Quincy Washington and San Antonio
    8. CH1, Elk Grove Village, Ill. (DuPont Fabros)
    7. Phoenix ONE, Phoenix (i/o Data Centers)
    6. Microsoft Dublin (Microsoft)
    5. Container Data Center, Chicago (Microsoft)
    4. NGD Europe, Newport Wales (Next Generation Data)
    3. The NAP of the Americas, Miami (Terremark)
    2. Metro Technology Center, Atlanta (Quality Technology)
    1. 350 East Cermak / Lakeside Technology Center (Digital Realty)

    1. Re:The 10 by frinkster · · Score: 2, Insightful

      #1, #5, and #8 in Chicago?

      In the 1600s French explorers wrote about finding a location in the center of the new world which would be the most strategic location for controlling shipping by water. Indeed, for many years in the 1800s Chicago was the busiest port in the United States. But the age of the railroad was approaching and Chicago decided it must be the center of that as well. To this day, more than 60% of rail traffic in the United States runs through Chicago. In the 1900s a fast expanding America purchased many of their goods from catalogs. The largest building in the United States was built in Chicago so that manufacturers of goods could display their products to the purchasing managers of the largest retailers in America. And thus Chicago was the center of American retail. In the last 30 - 40 years, trading of financial instruments has exploded in quantity. And Chicago is the center of this market. Every day, more money flows through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange than the NYSE and NASDAQ combined

      And here we are today, with Chicago the center of data distribution. Should we be surprised?

  9. Physician, heal thyself... by jtara · · Score: 2, Funny

    Too bad this wasn't hosted at one of world's 10 biggest data centers. If it had been, the site might have survived the Slashdot effect.

  10. with the cooling costs by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Insightful

    i would have said that a datacenter in las vegas makes no sense

    but of course, i'm forgetting the hoover dam: guaranteed cheap power

    which makes sense, because the hoover dam is the only reason las vegas can exist as a city in the first place

    so for any of you datacenter builders of the future: look for intersections of traffic flows and hydroelectric dams

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:with the cooling costs by Shakrai · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you are going for cheap hydro power and a cooler climate why not put your data center in Western NY?

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    2. Re:with the cooling costs by JAZ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I used to work at a company that had a large one in Utica... they had trouble with blizzards and would have to plan to have a support team snowed in and unable to leave for days at a time.

      --


      "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -- Homer Simpson
  11. Re:Gaze and be amazed at the sights and the streng by jimicus · · Score: 3, Funny

    You really need to get laid.

  12. Re:And only 8 months behind schedule by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yeah, I mean why would you leave Activision in the first place? It's not like EA is any better.

  13. Re:And only 8 months behind schedule by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ohh, I'm sorry Em Emalb, but you have to state your answer in the form of a question. The judges were looking for "Who is Lucas123." "What is Lucas123" would also have been acceptable.

    --
    I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
  14. They missed the largest one, it's in Tokyo by alexkane · · Score: 2, Informative

    They missed the largest data center in the world, the @Tokyo data center in Tokyo, Japan. It's over 1.5 million square feet, large enough to have it's own train station (Shintoyosu station). It sits on a piece of land out in Tokyo Bay in the section of the city known as Odaiba. I had a chance to do some work there a couple years ago when Lehman had a lot of space there (my pictures of the data center are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexkane/sets/72157623651979353/).

    Some more info on the @Tokyo data center can be found on the web:

    Google map:
    http://tinyurl.com/y6djuzo

    http://www.jpix.ad.jp/en/service/site_info.html "The academic IX NSPIXP2 is located here.The total floor space in the building is 140,000 square meters which is the largest scale data center in the world."