Google+dark fiber+5,000 Opterons=?

mindwreck

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
1,585
1
81
holy moly 5000 opterons 3.5 petabytes of storage. this is what geek dreams are made of..
 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
good god thats a lot of processing power.

The question is, other than web servers, what the hell would they do with these ultra-powerful data centers? Tons of hosting? Game servers? I dont understand the purpose.
 

bwanaaa

Senior member
Dec 26, 2002
739
1
81
data mining i suppose. imagine wanting to find that one email where Saddam Hussein tells his buddies where the WMDs are.

you need ALL the emails on earth (not a hard thing to do since every email leaves a copy of itself on every node it travels through) and a lot of processing power to decrypt and search every email for the above text.
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
14
81
www.markbetz.net
The question is, other than web servers, what the hell would they do with these ultra-powerful data centers?

Google's whole infrastructure is based on a proprietary, highly distributed and redundant file system. So if I had to guess I would say that these shipping containers are steel boxes full of shard processing that you can drop on a fiber node. Then you have a chunk of the filesystem somewhere closer to a certain set of users.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
32,016
32,481
146
Originally posted by: bwanaaa
data mining
Tha was the first reason popped in my head.

I may be way off on this line of thinking, but I occassionally read predictions about the future of computing, that seem to believe that typical users may no longer require/desire their own PCs. Instead they will simply have an account on a supercomputer that provides all their computing needs. No more shopping for a new PC every couple years, just a subscription fee every month. Since they pay for ISP anyways, the monthly fee, though likely higher than what they pay for just the internet access, would be offset by the savings incurred from not needing to purchase the hardware any longer.

Certainly would be groundbreaking if Google offered up such a service. *Do away with your PC that was practically antiquated by the time you bought it, don't pay for software anymore, 1 flat monthly rate replaces all that for you. We provied all the equipment, software, and services you will ever need. Plans to fit every users needs.*

They could provide the necessary equipment much the way sattelite and cable companies provide for their services. Might be unfeasible or unpopular? Just something I have read speculation about.
 

Hyperlite

Diamond Member
May 25, 2004
5,664
2
76
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Originally posted by: bwanaaa
data mining
Tha was the first reason popped in my head.

I may be way off on this line of thinking, but I occassionally read predictions about the future of computing, that seem to believe that typical users may no longer require/desire their own PCs. Instead they will simply have an account on a supercomputer that provides all their computing needs. No more shopping for a new PC every couple years, just a subscription fee every month. Since they pay for ISP anyways, the monthly fee, though likely higher than what they pay for just the internet access, would be offset by the savings incurred from not needing to purchase the hardware any longer.

Certainly would be groundbreaking if Google offered up such a service. *Do away with your PC that was practically antiquated by the time you bought it, don't pay for software anymore, 1 flat monthly rate replaces all that for you. We provied all the equipment, software, and services you will ever need. Plans to fit every users needs.*

They could provide the necessary equipment much the way sattelite and cable companies provide for their services. Might be unfeasible or unpopular? Just something I have read speculation about.

Thats a scary thought...

"...you will be assimilated..."

it will be very interesting to see what becomes of all this.
 

batmanuel

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2003
2,144
0
0
Originally posted by: Acanthus
good god thats a lot of processing power.

The question is, other than web servers, what the hell would they do with these ultra-powerful data centers? Tons of hosting? Game servers? I dont understand the purpose.

To find the question for the ultimate answer of life, the universe and everything?

 

AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
12,647
4
81
Originally posted by: batmanuel
Originally posted by: Acanthus
good god thats a lot of processing power.

The question is, other than web servers, what the hell would they do with these ultra-powerful data centers? Tons of hosting? Game servers? I dont understand the purpose.

To find the question for the ultimate answer of life, the universe and everything?

all that processing power for 42?
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
32,016
32,481
146
Originally posted by: AkumaX
Originally posted by: batmanuel
Originally posted by: Acanthus
good god thats a lot of processing power.

The question is, other than web servers, what the hell would they do with these ultra-powerful data centers? Tons of hosting? Game servers? I dont understand the purpose.

To find the question for the ultimate answer of life, the universe and everything?

all that processing power for 42?
No, the question ;)

 

phaxmohdem

Golden Member
Aug 18, 2004
1,839
0
0
www.avxmedia.com
Sounds like something the military might be extremely interested in purchasing if Google can pull it off. Sounds like fun. Wish I was on that project.

Also, google is big on redundancy. Could be an emergency server farm to keep the site alive, should a major datacenter be brought down by natural disaster or other event. Seems like a good plan to me.


EDIT:

Also check this out:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Pro...ion/0,,30_118_609,00.html?redir=CPT301

2500 x Opteron 275's = 5000 Opterons... = $2,627,500

or if there are going w/ 4-8 way servers....

2500 x Opteron 875's = 5000 Opterons... = $5,372,500

Yikes!
 

jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
7,430
0
71
Originally posted by: SunnyD
Cool... people don't see SkyNet coming to fruition!


LOL!

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It launches the nukes at the targets in Russia."

"But why Russia? Aren't they our friends?"

"Because Skynet knows that the russian counterattack will eliminate its enemies over here"

(read with a heavy Austrian accent)