Google Offers Rare Glimpse Of Its Top Secret Data Centers

Like many companies, Google goes to great lengths to protect its data centers and the information that resides within them. To help maintain security, Google allows only a small number of employees access to its server floor and other areas of its data centers. While you won't be able to take an in-person tour of a Google data center anytime soon, Google has provided a really cool glimpse into its data centers around the world with beautiful pictures as well as a Street View tour of the North Carolina location. In all, Google operates 13 data centers throughout the world.

Not only does Google have rows and rows of servers, but the company also strives to be energy efficient. Here, you can see the blue LEDs which indicate everything is running smoothly in the Douglas County, Georgia facility.

You'll find thousands of feet of brightly painted pipe inside the Douglas County, Georgia facility as well. Not only do the painted pipes look cool, but the colors also help distinguish which one is which. In this photo, the pink pipe transfers water from the row of chillers (the green units on the left) to an outside cooling tower.

In Hamina, Finland, Google renovated an old paper mill which provides plenty of space for its server floor.

Server racks seem to stretch as far as the eye can see in this photo taken at the Mayes County, Oklahoma data center.

Behind the server aisle, hundreds of fans help cool the servers at the Mayes County, Oklahoma data center.

Here, we see some of the cooling towers at the Council Bluffs, Iowa data center.

It takes a team of people to keep Google running smoothly. Here are some the Google employees who help ensure everything is running smoothly at the Hamina, Finland data center.

Tags:  Google, data center
Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer grew up around technology. From an early age, she was curious about all things related to computers. As a child, Jennifer remembers spending nights with her dad programming in BASIC and taking apart hard drives to see what was inside. In high school, she wrote her senior term paper on her experiences with building custom computers.

Jennifer graduated from the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. After college, she began writing full-time for various PC and technology magazines. Later, she transitioned to the Web. In these roles, Jennifer has covered a variety of topics including laptops, desktops, smartphones, cameras, tablets, and various consumer electronics devices. When she's not playing with or writing about the latest gadget, Jennifer loves to spend time with her family, capture memories with her camera, and scrapbook.

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