187 Data Centers - editorialpinups

I admit that I am a bit of a data pack rat.  Years of professional photography plus years of writing and editorial web content I have tried to keep it all.  First on DVD and CD backup, now on jump drives, jump ssd's and internal hard drives and ssd’s connected to multiple computers across two states.  I have created my own mini data centers nothing to hot to require great deals of water as I am using dispersed air cooling and it seems my data locations are in mostly unfinished basement locations.

When working in the Data Processing industries (later called IT when we were put in charge of the phone systems) there was always the question of backup.  Initially it was the reams of paper reports we kept in various closets, vaults and basements.  Rarely did seem like we ever went and looked anything up.  The thought was good clean living and data for the moment to make decisions.  Tax related records were kept for the length of time the taxing bodies said they were to be kept.

When email was gaining popularity through CompuServe and AOL it was treated like regular mail. Anything you wanted to keep you printed and stored in a file.  Email was a vehicle, not a storage cabinet.  Email browsers caught the email then you acted and filed.  Electronic storage was still pricey. Paper was cheap.  The desire for little tidbits of electronic information had not existed yet.  Even gawd awful spreadsheets were temporary items.

Business decision makers were able to retain the important parts of data but mixed in with it was on the spot location visuals, conversations, and meetings.  The numbers meant nothing alone.  They representative something. That something meant something to someone.  And that something was seen and determined and made happen.

Today we have data pack rats. There is the attitude that everything must be available for review either now or two hundred years from now.  This struck me a few years back when I found out that Loyola University had scanned my father’s Doctoral Dissertation and is now a part of their digital archive.  I wonder how many people have looked it up besides me.

There are many reasons to save things.  Family heirlooms, historical purposes, items of value, items of permanence, items used for learning, items that may help us from our selves.  The latest desire for unfettered saving is in the cause of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Artificial intelligence is not new. Previously published on this site we discussed a history and definition of AI.  After all of these years it is now becoming mainstream.  There has become a desire to make broad investments in data to be mined and harvested in the name of artificial intelligence. At this juncture it looks to be that there is a need to store data to try to create learning for making intelligence.

To store this data they are using technology designed for smaller data clusters.  I say that because the cooling needs for these large data centers are requiring large quantities of water.  The water quantities show me that we are not technologically ready for these centralized centers.  There has to be a better design to not require large uses of water. Water has much more valuable uses.

Then there is the need for electricity.  I have stated in radio years ago that with all of these electronic things being created more electricity will need to be made.  Due to questionable environmental concerns and practices the United States the growth of the power grid has not kept up.  Some data center creators are looking at making their own power plants.  The question is, do we have electricity generating technology that will not also require water?  Solar and wind aside which is spottily reliable at best and is a n add on not a primary source, what is the proposed technology.  Even nuclear in its traditional form requires water.

Also, the idea of large central data storage even with replication is not totally secure. One disaster and the whole thing could be wiped out.  Therefore, where is the backup for all of this stuff?  One large data center in Cedar Rapids Iowa and another in Boise Idaho?  Two warheads and they are gone.

My last employer decided to no longer host their own servers and rent their primary server location in Chicago rather than Cedar Rapids citing data transmission technology would have you feel like the servers were in the back room on site.  With this knowledge level, I would ask why would I want to create such large centralized data storage centers?  With such a vast land mass and continuing improvements on connectivity both fiber and satellite, and continuing security improvements, spreading these data centers across the vast landscape including where many would not want to be would be more secure.  This could create opportunity for data center support people to be able to live in more remote areas which for people in Data Processing and IT had been limited until the virus episode of 2020.

By creating more dispersed data centers, the heat would not be as great per location and use of cooling such as dispersion would be more accessible. Locations in the mountains could be incorporated in the landscapes.  Data center defense could be improved as this concept of remote and underground has been used by the War Department for years.

We will be having more and more people wanting to save electronic data.  We will also supposedly having more and more people wanting to use this data for the development to Artificial Intelligence. We need to use real intelligence to do it right and efficiently.  Unfortunately that is currently not happening.  Large data centers with today’s advanced communication technologies dictate they should be much more decentralized.  Development of cooler and self cooling data devices is a must as there current model wanting water is ancient and inefficient.

We can do better!