This blog was originally posted on the .
Very few people have stepped inside Google’s data centers, and for good reason: our first priority is the privacy and security of your data, and we go to great lengths to protect it, keeping our sites under close guard. While we’ve shared many of our , and we’ve been , only a small set of employees have access to the server floor itself.
Today, for the first time, you can see inside our data centers and pay them a virtual visit. On , our new site featuring beautiful photographs by , you’ll get a never-before-seen look at the technology, the people and the places that keep Google running.
In addition, you can now explore our Lenoir, NC data center at your own pace in Street View. Walk in the , head up the stairs, turn right at the ping-pong table and head down the hall to the . Or take a stroll around the of the facility to see our energy-efficient cooling infrastructure. You can also watch a video tour to learn more about what you're viewing in Street View and see some of our equipment in action.
Finally, we invited author and WIRED reporter to talk to the architects of our infrastructure and get an unprecedented look at its inner workings. His is an exploration of the history and evolution of our infrastructure, with a first-time-ever report from the floor of a Google data center.
Fourteen years ago, back when Google was a student research project, Larry and Sergey powered their new search engine using a few cheap, off-the-shelf servers stacked in . We’ve grown a bit since then, and we hope you enjoy this glimpse at what we’ve built. In the coming days we’ll share a series of posts on the that explore some of the photographs in more detail, so stay tuned for more!
Posted by Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Technical Infrastructure