Google outlines plans at Manhattan opening

By: skore [privmsg - website] On 2nd Oct 2006 In
- Business Issues

Google today held the grand opening for their massive 300,000 sq. ft offices in NYC at 111 Eighth Ave. Today they denied rumors that they were also building a big datacenter here: New York Engineering Director Craig Nevill-Manning firmly stating, "We have no plans to build a data center here."

Quote:

Aside from being the largest advertising sales office for Google, the Manhattan office is also its largest engineering center outside of its headquarters. It is home to more than 100 Google engineering projects including Google Local, Maps, Spreadsheet, Mobile Web Search, Checkout, Enterprise and Web Definitions.

And yes - it does have a game room...

Story from Crain's New York

- Y! MyWeb

Surprising that maps is

Surprising that maps is located in Manhattan where I'm sure no one uses a car daily, yet they STILL don't have walking directions or public transportation stations on maps, nevermind directions via public transport.

Surely it's not that difficult?

By jcoronella at Oct 3 2006 - 15:23

Maps

They moved it there after getting shoutout in Lazy Sunday

;)

By skore at Oct 3 2006 - 15:55

I can't imagine the cost of

I can't imagine the cost of a big data center in New York..I'm sure they'll put the datacenter elsewhere.

By grnidone at Oct 3 2006 - 16:27

Location, location, location

Quote:

I can't imagine the cost of a big data center in New York.

It would seem that way but 111 8th is a telecommunications hub here.

Quote:

...what lies beneath 111 Eighth Avenue may be more important than the building itself. The old Port Authority headquarters sits atop one of the main fiber optic arteries in New York City—the Hudson Street–Ninth Avenue "fiber highway." The venerable behemoth is already one of the country's most important "carrier hotels"—loosely speaking, the physical connection points of the world's telecommunications networks and the World Wide Web. As a result, Google will "have access to as much bandwidth as possible and as much variety of bandwidth as possible," says Dana Spiegel, a technology consultant and executive director of NYC Wireless.

From the same article:

Quote:

Google not only gains a giant space for a new server farm that will most likely house thousands of Google machines, but also gets direct access to the building's network-neutral meet-me room—literally, an area where telecommunications companies can physically hook up and exchange data cheaply and efficiently.

So that's why there was a lot of talk about the datacenter/etc even though it is in one of the most expensive possible locations.

Village Voice article from Sept. 12

By skore at Oct 3 2006 - 16:34

Google's Secret Data Center - The Dalles, Oregon

Many officials in The Dalles, including the city attorney and the city manager, said they could not comment on the project because they signed confidentiality agreements with Google last year.

But it's hard to keep a secret when it is a computing center as big as two football fields, with twin cooling plants protruding four stories into the sky.

Published: June 14, 2006 - International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/14/business/search.php

By herb at Oct 3 2006 - 23:51