Google opens window to 'where Internet lives'
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos-
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google technician working on some of the computers in the Dalles, Oregon, data center. -- PHOTO: AP
-
A journalist takes an online tour of the inner workings of Internet search giant Google's data centres on Oct 17, 2012 in Washington, DC. Google on Wednesday gave its users a first-ever view of its data centres, with a virtual visit of its server farms around the world from the United States (US) heartland to Finland.-- PHOTO: AFP
-
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in Hamina, Finland. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
-
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
-
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in in Douglas County, Georgia. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
-
In this Oct. 2, 2006 file photo, a Google receptionist works at the front desk in the company's office in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google technician working on some of the computers in the Dalles, Oregon, data center. -- PHOTO: AP
A journalist takes an online tour of the inner workings of Internet search giant Google's data centres on Oct 17, 2012 in Washington, DC. Google on Wednesday gave its users a first-ever view of its data centres, with a virtual visit of its server farms around the world from the United States (US) heartland to Finland.-- PHOTO: AFP
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in Hamina, Finland. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
This undated photo provided by Google shows a Google data center in in Douglas County, Georgia. Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers that serve as its nerve center. -- PHOTO: AP
In this Oct. 2, 2006 file photo, a Google receptionist works at the front desk in the company's office in New York. -- PHOTO: AP
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google on Wednesday gave its users a first-ever view of its data centres, with a virtual visit of its server farms around the world from the United States (US) heartland to Finland.
The Internet giant posted a series of photographs and "street views" of a half-dozen data centres on a page called "Where the Internet Lives," at http: www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/.
"We literally get dozens if not hundreds of requests for data center tours" from journalists, technologists and others, said Joe Kava, senior director of Google data centres.
"We can't do that. The security and privacy of our users data is our foremost concern. But since we can't accommodate the public coming inside we wanted to bring the inside out to the public."
