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Postcards from Tomorrow's Data Centers

Kevin Fogarty April 16, 2013 08:00 AM Today's data centers are essentially the same: long rows of metal racks stocked with machines, miles of cable, and elaborate cooling systems. But just because we build data centers this way in 2013 doesn't mean that's how it will be in ten, twenty or fifty years. Here's a few glimpses of what the future might hold, from printable electronics to nanotube processors to nuclear batteries.

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New Power Sources

Photo: Nuclear Battery

Image Source: NASA

Power is a huge problem for today's data centers, but maybe not for tomorrow's. Run your bits on a nuclear battery and you don't have to worry about power outages. You also can tuck a data center anywhere you want it, not only where high-power lines come together like ley lines at Stonehenge.

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