[tt] Microsoft's data centers growing by the truckload

[Eugen Leitl]

On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 08:10:21PM -0500, Brian Atkins wrote:
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10020902-75.html?hhTest=1
> 
> Once upon a time, Microsoft used to fill its data centers one server at a time. 
> Then it bought them by the rack. Now it's preparing to load up servers by the 
> shipping container.

Maybe they should have just ordered a http://www.sun.com/products/sunmd/s20/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svLdboZdfQ0

Purportedly, Google uses them.
 
> No more off-the-shelf hardware
> Gone are the days in which Microsoft settled for off-the-shelf hardware to fill 
> its server farms. These days, Microsoft is looking for servers designed to its 
> exact needs. It's not just that Microsoft doesn't want servers that have 
> keyboard or USB ports--it wants motherboards that don't even have the added 
> wiring necessary to support those things that it will never use. Such moves 
> eliminate cost, space, and power consumption.

That's strange, I use COTS servers and eliminate cost, space and power consumption
by not using Microsoft products.
 
> "When you think about large-scale data centers there are a number of limitations 
> in the technology," he said. "Some of the network protocols were designed years 
> ago...Some are 30 years old."

So are they lighting up dark fiber with custom protocols?

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE