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do all/many queries to facebook go to Prineville and how physically? shouldn't datacenters be in the middle of some thick cable hub?
by fedd 15y ago
do all/many queries to facebook go to Prineville and how physically? shouldn't datacenters be in the middle of some thick cable hub?
- jacques_chester 15y agoThe article explains that Prineville is a railroad town. Some time back most railroads switched to using fibre optics for signalling purposes, not least because copper requires more repeaters and is more likely to be dug up by dickheads. The amount of bandwidth needed for railroad signalling is pretty minimal, so many railroad companies now moonlight as telcos. Also, back in the 1990s, a lot of firms laid additional fibre along the railroads because of the existing rights-of-way. Laying alongside a railroad is much faster because the legalities are settled -- you only need to negotiate with one organisation, not every little county you happen to cross. Consequently there is a lot of spare capacity running along railroads.