Google Patents ‘Tower of Containers’

[The Straight Story]

Google Patents ‘Tower of Containers’


It’s been more than a year since Google confirmed its use of data center containers, publishing a video tour of a container-based facility built in late 2005. Since then, Google has been pretty quiet about its recent data center innovations. But the company has continued to work on design concepts for container-based data centers.

On Tuesday Google was awarded a patent on data center layouts that stack containers up to four high, and other designs featuring rows of containers attached to a central power spine. The patent was filed in June 2007, providing more recent insight into Google’s designs than the container data center disclosed last year.

Google was awarded a patent on a portable data center in a shipping container in October 2008, and containers also featured prominently in Google’s patent filing for a floating data center that generates its own electricity using wave energy.

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/06/18/google-patents-tower-of-containers/

[lurky]

1. "floating data center"? Why is everyone trying to get off land?

Last month, it was the floating cities for the super rich, now Google is developing floating data centers. It's like they're planning for some kind of Kevin Costner movie.