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A Look Inside Microsoft's Data Center Containers

The Virtual Earth team has posted additional pictures of the new data center containers Microsoft has deployed at its site in Boulder, Colorado. The containers are prototypes of those Microsoft will use in its new data center in Chicago. Note the Verari logo on the cabinets. The Virtual Earth blog also provides some numbers and context for the computing environment supported by the containers:

Given the computationally intense nature of creating the 3D models, the storage requirements for the operation are staggering. The new lab servers each have 8 "cores" — CPUs essentially — totaling more than 5000 cores and supporting more than 10 petabytes of data. When factored in with lab servers located in the facility’s building - now also wind-powered - the total storage capacity supporting the Virtual Earth operation in Boulder is 15 petabytes. To put this into perspective, a typical consumer camera is around 5 megabytes. It would take three billion of these images to fill the 15 petabytes of storage: the equivalent of 10 photos for every person in the US.

Microsoft says the Boulder units are wind powered containers using offsets purchased from Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy.

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  By Rich Miller April 21, 2008 | Permalink | >Get Posts By E-mail

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