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By Carl Drescher: Technology trends and their impacts on the provision of government services.

The Data Center of the Future?

September 15, 2008 By Carl Drescher

An interesting article in the Times Online about a solution proposed by Google for their new data centers.

According to the article, Google is considering deploying the supercomputers necessary to operate their Internet search engines on barges anchored up to seven miles (11km) offshore.

The floating data centers could use wave energy to power and cool their computers. And if they had an "offshore status," the company would no longer have to pay property taxes on its data center properties around the world, an additional saving.

I have heard about the generation of electrical power from the motion generated from ocean waves, but this certainly solves issues associated with current data centers: power costs and cooling.

While there are a whole hosts of issues associated with a scenario such as this that must be addressed, (and yes I know that Google is looking to address legal issues as well) but from a technical perspective I am interested to know what your thoughts are regarding the use of data barges as future data centers.

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In the Trenches
Carl Drescher

One of the constants regarding technology is that it is constantly changing. New technologies have the potential to change the way communities are governed. This blog will discuss some of these technological trends and how they are advancing government at all levels.

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