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A data center is a giant router/switch General power goes in > Routed power goes out It's basically 1:1 minus efficiency losses I live in "The cloud" and the

A data center is a giant router/switch General power goes in > Routed power goes out It's basically 1:1 minus efficiency losses I live in "The cloud" and the key driver to data center growth is power routing prior to or concurrent with DC development. This is why Amazon is investing so heavily into lobbying my county supervisors into destroying our aquifer and farmland to run power [1] to their new DCs The fact that the whole state of Georgia didn't figure this basic math equation out is unsurprising. Hopefully this elementary planning oversight will make their expansion totally fail. [1]https://protectpwc.org/ https://protectpwc.org/

p1mrx 3y ago
What is "routed power"? If you zoom out, a datacenter converts electricity into >99% heat and <1% blinky lights.
- judge2020 3y ago
  All copper is an electrical signal, but copper has been largely replaced by fiber runs for a long time now.
tomrod 3y ago
> The fact that the whole state of Georgia didn't figure this basic math equation out is unsurprising Quite the backhanded compliment. What do you have against the state of Georgia?
- cpursley 3y ago
  There's a lot of coastal elitism on hn and cheap swipes at states with the "wrong" politics are common. The reality is Georgia is kicking butt in terms of attracting economic development, especially industrial.
  - mcmcmc 3y ago
    Georgia is literally on the Atlantic Coast. Sherman marched to the sea, remember?
    - cpursley 3y ago
      That phrase does not literally mean any US state with a coast.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    - Mountain_Skies 3y ago
      And for decades has had the world's busiest airport but that doesn't stop snobs for calling it flyover country regardless of the literal meaning of the phrase.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - tomrod 3y ago
    Hear hear. GA is pretty kickass. Primary and Secondary educational system more rigorous than Texas or Ohio. Generous college tuition funding for B and higher students. Natural beauty and resources. Friendly folks. I'm hoping it continues its upwards trajectory!
- chaorace 3y ago
  I'm a different person, but speaking as a GA resident I kind of agree. Very little gets done that doesn't support the status quo. I'll take this an excuse to list a few personal grievances: * Georgia DOT is notorious for not building infrastructure. Their gameplan consists almost entirely of maintaining & expanding existing highways/arterials. This isn't for lack of funding, mind you -- last year GDOT had a big budget surplus and all they did with it was refund a bunch of vehicle taxes (this happens surprisingly often) * Related to the above... ask a GA resident how they feel about metal plates. If that person regularly drives, they'll know. * The City of Atlanta, despite supporting millions of jobs, only has 500,000 residents. It is perpetually operating on a shoestring budget and the state makes a point of avoiding reinvestment into the city (indeed, slashing the city budget is a common campaign promise) * Despite (more likely because of...) an almost chronic shortage of cash, the City of Atlanta government is rife with misappropriation and self-dealing. There is little will to do anything about it because of how regionally polarized the politics here are * The City of Atlanta regularly trades places with Miami as the U.S.'s "most unequal major city" by gini coefficient. We used to be securely #1 before South Fulton seceded from the CoA in 2017 (Tragically relevant: South Fulton is now America's blackest city) * Related to the above... regions regularly threaten to seceed from the CoA because they are (understandably) frustrated with how poorly things are run. These movements to seceed often succeed. Unfortunately, it's just plain hard to run any city in this state, so both parties usually come out of the deal faring worse than before With that being said, Georgia isn't a hellscape or anything. Yes... we do punch well above our weightclass in the twin realms of corruption and political infighting, but on the other hand the rent's pretty affordable and we have a really nice forest!
  - mixdup 3y ago
    South Fulton was not part of the City of Atlanta, it was an unincorporated part of Fulton County south of the City of Atlanta. It was incorporated as a separate city, but never as part of or separated from Atlanta.
    - chaorace 3y ago
      My bad! Thanks for the fact check and keeping me honest. I'm rather glad that the rest of my rant somehow manages to hold up under closer scrutiny! I'd edit my original post to reflect the correction, but HN puts a timer on these things. If I could go back I'd also try to spell "secede" properly
ianburrell 3y ago
Router/switches don't transform the data, they send it to its destination. Most of the power in data center is used by computers, not the routers, switches, and load balcners. Now if you said that data center acts like one big computer, that would be accurate. Plus, power doesn't go out, all the power is used by the data center. Mixing data and power leads to confusion.
- AndrewKemendo 3y ago
  I agree with the transformation part, and almost said one big transistor or computer but don’t think either are right either. I still think switch is closest. Computers turn electricity mostly into a display (monitor) (I’m not calling out heat cause every computer does that) The data piped out of data centers almost purely specifically routed packets - so that looks more like a switch to me

p1mrx 3y ago

What is "routed power"? If you zoom out, a datacenter converts electricity into >99% heat and <1% blinky lights.

judge2020 3y ago
All copper is an electrical signal, but copper has been largely replaced by fiber runs for a long time now.

tomrod 3y ago

> The fact that the whole state of Georgia didn't figure this basic math equation out is unsurprising Quite the backhanded compliment. What do you have against the state of Georgia?

cpursley 3y ago
There's a lot of coastal elitism on hn and cheap swipes at states with the "wrong" politics are common. The reality is Georgia is kicking butt in terms of attracting economic development, especially industrial.
- mcmcmc 3y ago
  Georgia is literally on the Atlantic Coast. Sherman marched to the sea, remember?
  - cpursley 3y ago
    That phrase does not literally mean any US state with a coast.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - Mountain_Skies 3y ago
    And for decades has had the world's busiest airport but that doesn't stop snobs for calling it flyover country regardless of the literal meaning of the phrase.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- tomrod 3y ago
  Hear hear. GA is pretty kickass. Primary and Secondary educational system more rigorous than Texas or Ohio. Generous college tuition funding for B and higher students. Natural beauty and resources. Friendly folks. I'm hoping it continues its upwards trajectory!
chaorace 3y ago
I'm a different person, but speaking as a GA resident I kind of agree. Very little gets done that doesn't support the status quo. I'll take this an excuse to list a few personal grievances: * Georgia DOT is notorious for not building infrastructure. Their gameplan consists almost entirely of maintaining & expanding existing highways/arterials. This isn't for lack of funding, mind you -- last year GDOT had a big budget surplus and all they did with it was refund a bunch of vehicle taxes (this happens surprisingly often) * Related to the above... ask a GA resident how they feel about metal plates. If that person regularly drives, they'll know. * The City of Atlanta, despite supporting millions of jobs, only has 500,000 residents. It is perpetually operating on a shoestring budget and the state makes a point of avoiding reinvestment into the city (indeed, slashing the city budget is a common campaign promise) * Despite (more likely because of...) an almost chronic shortage of cash, the City of Atlanta government is rife with misappropriation and self-dealing. There is little will to do anything about it because of how regionally polarized the politics here are * The City of Atlanta regularly trades places with Miami as the U.S.'s "most unequal major city" by gini coefficient. We used to be securely #1 before South Fulton seceded from the CoA in 2017 (Tragically relevant: South Fulton is now America's blackest city) * Related to the above... regions regularly threaten to seceed from the CoA because they are (understandably) frustrated with how poorly things are run. These movements to seceed often succeed. Unfortunately, it's just plain hard to run any city in this state, so both parties usually come out of the deal faring worse than before With that being said, Georgia isn't a hellscape or anything. Yes... we do punch well above our weightclass in the twin realms of corruption and political infighting, but on the other hand the rent's pretty affordable and we have a really nice forest!
- mixdup 3y ago
  South Fulton was not part of the City of Atlanta, it was an unincorporated part of Fulton County south of the City of Atlanta. It was incorporated as a separate city, but never as part of or separated from Atlanta.
  - chaorace 3y ago
    My bad! Thanks for the fact check and keeping me honest. I'm rather glad that the rest of my rant somehow manages to hold up under closer scrutiny! I'd edit my original post to reflect the correction, but HN puts a timer on these things. If I could go back I'd also try to spell "secede" properly

ianburrell 3y ago

Router/switches don't transform the data, they send it to its destination. Most of the power in data center is used by computers, not the routers, switches, and load balcners. Now if you said that data center acts like one big computer, that would be accurate. Plus, power doesn't go out, all the power is used by the data center. Mixing data and power leads to confusion.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago
I agree with the transformation part, and almost said one big transistor or computer but don’t think either are right either. I still think switch is closest. Computers turn electricity mostly into a display (monitor) (I’m not calling out heat cause every computer does that) The data piped out of data centers almost purely specifically routed packets - so that looks more like a switch to me