Uber Scaling Up Its Data Center Infrastructure (datacenterfrontier.com)

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Uber Scaling Up Its Data Center Infrastructure (datacenterfrontier.com)

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 13, 2016 @08:25AM from the power-up dept.

1sockchuck writes: Connected cars generate a lot of data. That's translating into big business for data center providers, as evidenced by a major data center expansion by Uber, which needs more storage and compute power to support its global data platform. Uber drivers' mobile phones send location updates every 4 seconds, which is why the design goal for Uber's geospatial index is to handle a million writes per second. It's a reminder that as our cars become mini data centers, the data isn't staying onboard, but will also be offloaded to the data centers of automakers and software companies.

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Data transfer costs by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 08:30 · Score: 0

And who is going to pay the network costs relating to the constant stream of data from car to uber.
Seems like a pretty good way to chew through your 2g/3G/4g download quota to me.
1. Re:Data transfer costs by XXongo · 2016-01-13 08:39 · Score: 2
  
  And who is going to pay the network costs relating to the constant stream of data from car to uber. Seems like a pretty good way to chew through your 2g/3G/4g download quota to me.
  Hm-- if they link, say, a 24-bit location information package every 4 seconds-- call it 170 kB per 8 hour day, about 5 MB per month.
  Probably won't blow away your data caps, but that will depend on how much other stuff is in the downlink other than location
2. Re:Data transfer costs by 110010001000 · 2016-01-13 08:45 · Score: 2
  
  24-bits? Chances are they are doing it via a HTTP REST connection.
3. Re: Data transfer costs by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:02 · Score: 0
  
  OP here:
  I'd guess it's also likely to contain driver info, passenger info, speed, and time.
4. Re:Data transfer costs by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2016-01-13 09:06 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  ^^^ What I was thinking. You can't even spell JSON with 24 bits these days. :)
5. Re:Data transfer costs by XXongo · 2016-01-13 09:51 · Score: 1
  
  Well, I was just assuming that it was only sending location (that was all the summary mentioned: "location updates"). If Uber is going to be sending more information, well, yes, that could add up.
Fortunately, all the servers are contractors. by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2016-01-13 08:35 · Score: 2

Fortunately, all the servers are contractors. Or the datacenters are anyway.
>> as our cars become mini data centers
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
1. Re:Fortunately, all the servers are contractors. by SuricouRaven · 2016-01-13 08:37 · Score: 1
  
  I'd assume a 'mini data center' is a server room.
  A 'micro data center' is the cupboard where your router sits.
2. Re:Fortunately, all the servers are contractors. by The-Ixian · 2016-01-13 09:09 · Score: 2
  
  It sounds cute.
  A miniature replica of a data center complete with false floor, wire trellises, HVAC equipment and network gear.
  Collect all the different style mini racks all lovingly duplicated down to the last detail.
  Rage as you realize your mini rails don't fit in the mini rack or are for a slightly different model of mini server.
  
  --
  My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
3. Re:Fortunately, all the servers are contractors. by swb · 2016-01-13 10:25 · Score: 1
  
  Does it come with a cute little pile of unused cable management arms in the corner?
Just me? by JustNiz · 2016-01-13 08:40 · Score: 4, Informative

Is it just me or does anyone else here also have a personal policy to never buy any car that is "connected" or can "phone home"?
1. Re:Just me? by 0100010001010011 · 2016-01-13 08:49 · Score: 1
  
  Don't worry, Uber doesn't plan on letting you buy one of these.
2. Re:Just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:34 · Score: 0
  
  You remind me of that "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" song from Cabaret. Society develops good ideas, but also frequently revisits bad ones. The momentum for the latter comes from youthful useful idiots who think they're uniquely enlightened, but really have nothing to offer bar enthusiastic ignorance.
3. Re:Just me? by JustNiz · 2016-01-13 09:45 · Score: 2
  
  I'm 27.
4. Re:Just me? by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2016-01-13 09:48 · Score: 2
  
  >> I'm 27 ...and you work in tech? You've got just 12 years left to go - make 'em count!
5. Re:Just me? by JustNiz · 2016-01-13 09:51 · Score: 3
  
  Being concerned about privacy is not age-related.
  Being an arrogant dick like you apparently is though.
6. Re: Just me? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 14:26 · Score: 0
  
  Ah yes the ol mythical age limitation
Ob by Hognoxious · 2016-01-13 08:48 · Score: 0

Are they 3D printing the hardware and financing it by bonds denominated in Bitcoin? Because that's the only way to get girls interested in coding.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
1. Re:Ob by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:00 · Score: 0
  
  Privately 3D printed from privately mined asteroids because Luddites.
2. Re:Ob by Hognoxious · 2016-01-13 10:12 · Score: 1
  
  In Soviet Russia, only Luddite software uses old Koreans.
  
  --
  Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
900 engineers? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 08:52 · Score: 0

Reading the story I'm just floored that they say they have 900 people on the engineering staff. I can only imagine that they are following 'agile' practices which in my experience is a massive man-power sink.
1. Re:900 engineers? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:07 · Score: 0
  
  Reading the story I'm just floored that they say they have 900 people on the engineering staff. I can only imagine that they are following 'agile' practices which in my experience is a massive man-power sink.
  They're probably not all IT staff. That probably includes Logistic and Actuary staff as well...
Why not just do like Netflix and use AWS? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 08:55 · Score: 0

Why can't Uber just do like Netflix and piggyback from AWS, unless they really need the edge data center functionality to handle "God Mode" with less latency in local areas, similar to CDNs, except in reverse where the content goes into the data center; not out.
1. Re:Why not just do like Netflix and use AWS? by MerlynEmrys67 · 2016-01-13 09:09 · Score: 2
  
  Netflix would kill to get out from under AWS and paying the profits that Amazon gets, the problem is once your data is locked in - it is hard to get away. AWS is great for small (in big data center terms) projects with unknown scaling - once you are pushing a significant amount of the Internet's traffic it is good to have your own data center where you can control content, costs, etc.
  
  --
  I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
2. Re:Why not just do like Netflix and use AWS? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:27 · Score: 0
  
  True, but what else is out there? Building reverse CDNs isn't cheap, nor are core data centers. OpenStack is definitely not anything one would rely on for production. In fact, OpenStack and "rely on" are something that shouldn't be in the same sentence, since it can't support live migrations or fault tolerance of VMs... and you can't throw everything in a Docker container.
So what do they call this place? by bobbied · 2016-01-13 09:13 · Score: 2

They already must have an "Uber Data Center", so what do they call this newer bigger data center?
Somehow "Bigger Uber Data Center" just doesn't seem to convey the proper meaning...
Maybe "S-Uber D-Uber P-Uber SC-Uber" works here...

--
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
1. Re:So what do they call this place? by starless · 2016-01-13 09:19 · Score: 1
  
  They already must have an "Uber Data Center", so what do they call this newer bigger data center?
  Über Alles Data Center, I believe...
2. Re:So what do they call this place? by radarskiy · 2016-01-13 13:26 · Score: 1
  
  The Lebensraum
3. Re:So what do they call this place? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 21:10 · Score: 0
  
  Uber-mart. Think more than s-mart, think Uber-mart.
Not impressed by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 09:32 · Score: 0

Boost rtrees can handle 1M updates/sec *per CPU* on an off-the-shelf macbook:
https://github.com/gewesp/cpp-lib/blob/master/include/cpp-lib/spatial-index.h
Well, data center space is cheap I guess...
Uber? meh by Anonymous Coward · 2016-01-13 11:14 · Score: 0

Why doesn't uber respect its employees and stop trying to con them by making them be "independent contractors"
1M GPS coordinate writes per second? by guruevi · 2016-01-13 20:24 · Score: 1

That would be about 20 servers with a set of SSDs.
Hardly requires a data center, let alone a data center infrastructure. Perhaps they'll take up a few racks to get everything stored but 1M writes per second isn't all that impressive.

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