Google is opening a virtual window into the secretive data centers where an intricate maze of computers process Internet search requests, show YouTube clips and distribute email for millions of people.
The unprecedented peek is being provided through a new website unveiled Wednesday at www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/.
The site features photos from inside some of the eight data centers that Google Inc. already has running in the U.S., Finland and Belgium. Google is also building data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Chile.
Virtual tours of a North Carolina data center also will be available through Google’s “Street View" service, which is usually used to view photos of neighborhoods around the world.
The data centers represent Google’s nerve center, although none are located near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
The data centers are located in Berkeley County, S.C.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Douglas County, Ga.; Mayes County, Okla.; Lenoir, N.C.; The Dalles; Hamina, Finland; and St. Ghislain, Belgium. Other data centers are being built in Quilicura, Chile; Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.
— The Associated Press
