1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

News Facebook builds massive data centre

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by CardJoe, 4 Aug 2010.

  1. CardJoe

    CardJoe Freelance Journalist

    Joined:
    3 Apr 2007
    Posts:
    11,346
    Likes Received:
    316
  2. Fused

    Fused Minimodder

    Joined:
    19 Jun 2007
    Posts:
    224
    Likes Received:
    8
    My only real thoughts are about how long facebook will last? Most things seem to come and go ever more quickly these days, will it last long enough to make good on the investment in this data centre?

    As an end user I doubt I will see much difference. Be nicer if they fixed the bugs in the FB code and develop a better iphone app.
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

    Joined:
    4 Dec 2007
    Posts:
    17,084
    Likes Received:
    6,635
    In theory - it's always in theory - it gives Facebook an actual, physical asset to flog off should all its users leave them for the Web 3.0 Site Du Jour.

    An investment in something like this when times are good could really save the company when times are bad - although would put them in the unenviable position of possibly supplying a data centre to the site that beat them in the race for hearts and minds.
     
  4. Phil Rhodes

    Phil Rhodes Hypernobber

    Joined:
    27 Jul 2006
    Posts:
    1,415
    Likes Received:
    10
    My God, that's a lot of space to fill with trivia about morons.
     
  5. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

    Joined:
    5 Feb 2004
    Posts:
    6,367
    Likes Received:
    127
    Woulda been +rep-worthy if you got the number right and were talking about Twitter :p

    Makes you wonder just how many petabytes 307000 square feet is.
     
  6. flipdart

    flipdart What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    22 Dec 2009
    Posts:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    i wonder how much juice that place soaks up?
     
  7. Plugs

    Plugs Minimodder

    Joined:
    5 Nov 2009
    Posts:
    528
    Likes Received:
    64
    Not surprising that successful companies will do this.

    Self-hosting means the only expenditure is running costs (rather than running costs + profit for the hosting company)
    The only real problem is the huge expenditure in creating them.

    So as long as they can live long enough so that the expenditure outweighs the profit that would have gone to the hosting company, they'll be fine.
    Even if they do go before then, they have a huge data centre they can sell.
     
  8. NiHiLiST

    NiHiLiST New-born car whore

    Joined:
    18 Aug 2001
    Posts:
    3,987
    Likes Received:
    6
    Using evaporative cooling as an energy-efficiency selling point is interesting. I wonder whether it's intended (PR-wise) to be considered "green" or just "cheap". Isn't water vapour terrible for the whole "climate change" malarky?
     
  9. Lord-Vale3

    Lord-Vale3 His Tremendousness

    Joined:
    1 Dec 2009
    Posts:
    301
    Likes Received:
    8
    They probably do it just to lower costs, and the ability to PR it as 'green' will get them more well liked by all the environmentalists.
     
  10. sear

    sear What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    2 Aug 2010
    Posts:
    183
    Likes Received:
    9
    I'll bet they could reduce the size by a good 100,000 square feet if they got Zynga to host their own stuff.
     
  11. Guest-2867

    Guest-2867 Guest

    Reckon they'll be offering hosting or is this strictly for FB use only?
     
  12. themcman1

    themcman1 is now 110% win

    Joined:
    1 Jan 2008
    Posts:
    1,236
    Likes Received:
    24
    They do, it runs on EC2. Facebook simply provide a frame around the application and the means to integrate Facebook features.

    I remmber reading a presentation on how they scale, I'll try and dig out the link later.
     
  13. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

    Joined:
    23 Oct 2001
    Posts:
    34,731
    Likes Received:
    2,210
    Trivia that is consumer research gold. The trivial personal information that morons people morons casually leave on their Facebook walls and profiles allows marketing experts to build quite a detailed picture and do targeted advertising, viral marketing...

    It is also great for identity thieves and credit card fraudsters. Someone happen to mention your age and birthday? Together with your name and area of residence it makes the picture complete. They even know what you look like, what you do for a living (possibly where), what you drive, who you know.

    Facebook: your life as public property.
     
  14. Chimel

    Chimel What's a Dremel?

    Joined:
    24 Jul 2010
    Posts:
    11
    Likes Received:
    0
    That extra storage does not come a bit too early: At the slow rate they were moving, I was getting worried I'd never be able to publish my medical record, bank statements and personal passwords on Facebook because of space limitations.

    Now if the article could mention something useful such as how many exabytes in that datacenter instead of stupid building dimensions...
     
  15. Lazarus Dark

    Lazarus Dark Minimodder

    Joined:
    14 Apr 2006
    Posts:
    360
    Likes Received:
    0
    While Facebook is a definate step up from myspace and far more mature and useful, does anyone really believe it will last more than a few more years at its current popularity? something else will come along, just like facebook has nearly killed myspace. I'm betting given time Google is going to come up with something. Having an android phone, gmail account and recently starting to use Chrome browser, Google honestly provides 90% of my internet services now. I would love to trash facebook if I could get people to move to Buzz or whatever Google is working on next.
     
Tags: Add Tags

Share This Page