Cloud Hosting

Updated: May 9, 2017 - 11:48 PM

BOSTON - All of your music, photos and videos are probably saved "up in the cloud" instead of your phone for safekeeping -- but the cloud is actually made up of huge data centers.

Some critics claim it has a dark lining, thanks to the massive amount of power required. Boston 25 News reporter Ted Daniel shows us what really goes into maintaining all that data.

Massive data centers like Microsofts buildings in Quincy, Washington have transformed the landscape. The data centers are the engine or brain of a company. Inside, a large group of connected servers store, process, and distribute all of the things we access online.

Supporters say they brought a financial windfall in the form of jobs, and a surge in real estate. But critics say the data centers are adding something else to the air, thanks to the diesel generators, designed to make sure that the power never goes out.

When they start up, without controls, they give that black puff. And that was never considered in the air quality permits until we got involved. You can still see it, said former Quincy mayor Patty Martin.

There are an estimated 3 million data centers in the U.S. alone. That's about one for every 100 people in the country.

One of the largest in New England is located above the Macy's building in Bostons Downtown Crossing. The 920,000 square foot facility stores data for financial, healthcare, bio-tech, and entertainment companies - plus information for the the government

We dont see an end in sight with respect to having new data centers coming online, said Vanderweil Engineers principal Jim Gikas.

The leading data management design firm says data centers need an enormous amount of power, in part, because they operate 24 hours a day, require precise temperatures, and lots of redundancy.

Data centers use 20-100+ times the amount of electrical energy used in office building, said Gikas.

At Vanderweil, engineers are focused are trying to find ways to reduce the power draw and make data storage more environmentally friendly. We do have to be sensitive and really creative in helping people optimize the energy use, said Vanderweils Mike Kerwin.

In Massachusetts, data centers are also located in Watertown, Bedford, Worcester, Needham and Chicopee.

2017 Cox Media Group.

Go here to read the rest:
Massive data centers store info "on the cloud" but at what cost? - My Fox Boston