In The Post

This one is short and sweet, but it is the first time I have seen a media outlet mention that any site can go black. Thanks Post!

Secret, Efficient Power Supplies From Google

Google, google, google, google - what don't they have a green pinky in these days? The coolio-video above 'strates how they design the custom, super efficient power supplies for their server farms. Google builds its own machines (and has for some time) using a team of hardware engineers expressly dedicated to the task. With the goal of efficiency foremost in mind, it's no surprise they are leading the pack in this area as well; can you leave some for the rest of us please? ::Ubergizmo

Google Goes After the Data Center

Fascinating read here on the lengths that Goggle is going to make data center operations as efficient as they can be. There's a lot of gems here that I have never seen before, such the fact that running systems at non-peak levels is very inefficient, and it costs around $10 to $22 dollars per watt to build a data center, but only about 80 cents per watt to run it.
And there's also quite a bit of info on low level stuff, like how inefficient single threaded applications are, and how shared memeory models are difficult to keep up. Worth a readie.

IT Crisis, Kismet Cuts Both Ways

Dave Girouard has an interesting one here on the crisis in IT. With quotes referring to the current 'insane complexity' of IT and the 'amazing innovation' of Google, it reads like a firm sell. On the other hand, it validates what I have been saying for years. And who can resist validation!

Because of course he's right - when you are spending 80 percent of a budget just fixing what you have, there's a big problem. When your CIO can't innovate, due to no money and no leadership, you're going to have problems. And when your competition is spending $10 a year on Google Apps when you are spending millions, egad.

A few minor trifles though. One is that you just don't turn over your information security to someone else as mentioned, even if it is Google. Give me a bonded, insured SLA, then we'll talk. The second is that 'Googlevision' doesn't provide any options for the IT staff that is now redundant - I say put 'em into green technology projects. Finally, kismet cuts both ways. When you're reducing that 'insane complexity', take a look at your Google AdWords budget too. You might find that's not doing anything for you either.

Believe me, I'm not in the Google marketing department, but I should be for all the great advice I'm giving them. Maybe they should just hire me and get it over with.