Google opens its doors to reveal colorful and powerful guts
We all probably do it at least once or twice a day — Googling something. As we get near instant results we probably aren't giving too much thought as to what powers the all-knowing search engine. For the first time, Google has opened the doors to their various data centers so we can take a peek inside. It's all part of their new website 'Where the Internet Lives,' a project showing the people and colorful guts behind its services.
It's a massive, multibillion dollar infrastructure that handles over three billion daily searches, Gmail service and millions of You Tube videos. It boggles the mind to think about that kind of data and what is necessary to convert it into a usable service for users. To help us get the picture, Google commissioned photographer Connie Zhou to go behind-the-scenes at Google's eight data centers scattered across the globe.
The photos in the gallery cover everywhere from Finland and the United States. Far from being an Orwellian view of the backend, it's a colorful journey reflecting the vibrant colors Google uses for their logo. While the colors are fun and liven up what could otherwise be some pretty boring stuff, they also help those running the complex nerve centers identify different pathways and pieces of equipment via their color code.
Even the ambient lighting means something. The LEDs and other lights indicate systems operating normally. They also amp up that colorful cool factor.
This gallery is a sampling of the bigger collection from Google's "Where the Internet Lives" website, which focuses on the people, the equipment and educating us on just how the Internet works. You can even take a tour of their North Carolina facility via Google's Street View.
It seems that Google has thought of everything as they've finally opened their doors — but then again, thinking of everything is pretty much their job. Fortunately, it's one colorful journey for us "how does it work geeks.
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Thousands of feet of pipe with colors that help identify them to workers.
Pipes from the Oregon Data Center, blue pipes carrying cold water and the red carrying warmed water to be cooled.
A spaghetti like pile of cables ready to be organized by color.
Server racks, each containing four switches connected with different colored cable. The patterns are repeated through the entire data center which helps identify which ones to replace if there is a failure.
The server aisle where hundreds of fans are moving hot air from the racks into cooling units and the recirculation. The mysterious green lights are from
the server status LEDs.
A look at plastic curtains in a network room at the Council Bluffs data center. Cold air is served up through the floor and the curtains keep cold air in and hot air out.
At Google's campus, routers and switches help all the data centers talk to each other. The high speed fiber optic cables run in yellow trays along the ceiling.
Google's home in Hamina Finland is in an old paper mill. Server floors require huge floor space and efficient power. Renovating the Finland mill was ideal as it provided the floor space and is near the country's cooling waters.
Blue lights mean everything is working properly.
Huge beams in the Council Bluffs center support the structure and help distribute power through the massive center.
These pipes are equipped with highly-pressurized water in case of a fire. This water is cleaned and filtered so if used, â¨doesn't contaminate the facility.
As part of their commitment to keep users' data safe, Google destroys all failed drives, on site.
