Explore one of Google’s data centers with Street View
Tech giant offers unprecedented access to its North Carolina center via popular map product
Not only are they the provider of the world’s largest and most efficient search engine service, tech giant Google is also the host to a bevy of online products and technologies. As such, they are constantly pushing out tons and tons of data — every minute of every hour of every day of the week.
Google’s data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa uses over 115,000 square feet of space.
In order to do this without experiencing any hiccups in service, they need some pretty big, pretty advanced data centers, which the company has, but which we—the general public—have not had the chance to see . . . until now.
For the first time ever, Google has opened its doors so that the tech-curious can take a virtual tour of its data centers using the company’s Street View product.
Specifically, visitors can tour the company’s Lenoir, North Carolina location.
Along with the exploration program, the company has posted photos from its various data centers around the world, including:
Council Bluffs, Iowa
This image was taken inside the site’s campus network room, and it shows all of the many routers and switches that allow the company’s data centers to talk to one another. Worth noting: the fiber optic networks that connect the sites run more than 200,000 times faster than a typical home Internet connection.
Douglas County, Georgia
This is how Google cools its servers—with thousands and thousands of colorful pipe line. The company paints them in bright colors not only because, well, it’s fun, but also to designate the differences between the pipes. For instance, the pink pipe in this photo is responsible for transferring water from the row of chillers to an outside cooling tank.
The Dalles, Oregon
Google uses miles of cable line to keep everything connected. Similar to their pipe line system, the cables are organized by different colors so that, when working on the floor, the company’s technicians can quickly and easily grab the correct wiring.
Berkeley County, South Carolina
Data is far and above the most valuable property that Google owns. Should anything ever happen to it, the company has everything backed up. One of the places where they do this is in the company’s tape library. Here, robotic arms assist company employees with loading and unloading tapes whenever they need to access them.
Mayes County, Oklahoma
This is probably the coolest shot the company posted. That’s because it’s a rare look behind the server aisle. It’s here that hundreds of fans funnel hot air from the server racks into a cooling unit to be recirculated. Why the green lights? They’re actually just the server status LEDs reflecting from the front of the servers.
The company also put together a promotional video for their Street View tour of the North Carolina data center:
To take the actual tour, head over to Google.com
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