Google Servers Finally Revealed

Google do some cool stuff, and there have been long-running rumours about the cool stuff they were doing with their servers.

It's well known that the servers they use are commodity, off-the-shelf type, but it turns out now that they do make some modifications to what you have sitting in the box at your feet.

One of the more interesting addition's is a battery pack on every motherboard, used instead of a UPS. The reason behind this is because it is more efficient, and efficiency is everything when you are running tens of thousands of machines!

Google Data Centre Schematic: Credit: CNET

They also use shipping containers to hold all their servers, allowing for a modular approach. If you need more power, add another container!