9 Data Centers: Unexpected Beauty And Creativity
, October 04, 2012 Most data centers are boring boxes--but not all. Take a look at a data center that houses a supercomputer in a chapel, or an underground data center with James Bond-styling, or a solar-powered data center, and much, much more.
eBay's Futuristic Data Center
When eBay decided to build a data center in 2011 in Phoenix, Ariz., the online auction site and marketplace wanted something different than the standard boring box of a building. It accomplished that with the Project Mercury Data Center, which takes its design cues from the movie Tron: Legacy. During the grand opening, eBay showed a video of staffers dressed in Tron outfits using glowing discs and light sabers to fend off a denial of service attack. In an unusual move, eBay issued a public request for proposals and invited outside firms to submit designs. It also chose to go with standardized hardware, apps, and processes so additional resources can easily be added as needed. And a good chunk of the center's processing capacity comes from containerized servers on the roof. Image courtesy of eBay.
