Articles from Liz Gannes

1. Facebook Doubles Size of Data Center Before It’s Even Built Explore GigaOM (Aug 2 2010) Construction , Cloud Computing , Servers Facebook said late Friday that it is adding 160,000 square feet to the 147,000 square-foot data center it’s currently building in Prineville, Ore. Being able to make such on-the-fly changes is part of why Facebook wants a wholly owned data center that it can manage and optimize at its whim. The company cited a need for more servers to accommodate its 500 million users. (Read Full Article)

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2. Structure 2010: Intel vs. the Homogeneous Cloud Explore GigaOM (Jun 24 2010) Cloud Computing Hey guys, we should really work together, was Intel’s message at the GigaOM Network’s Structure conference in San Francisco, where the company’s GM of high-density computing, Jason Waxman, correctly identified himself as the elephant in the room (something at least one panelist had called Intel earlier in the conference). Rather than the current ideal of the homogenous cloud — where uniform, consistent building blocks scale in tandem — Waxman called for a “best of breed” standardized cloud. He said this alternate kind of cloud would be good for both data centers and vendors. It would be federated, connecting virtual machines between public and private data centers. It would be automated, both for power and workflow placement. And it would be client-aware, recognizing the fast-growing ranks of connected devices (Intel projects 10 billion of them in the next five years, including phones of course but also TVs and cars. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Intel

3. Facebook Acquires Photo Site Divvyshot Explore GigaOM (Apr 2 2010) Cloud Computing Facebook has acquired the group photo-sharing startup Divvyshot, a three-person team that will shut down its product and work on Facebook Photos as engineers. Divvyshot was an appealingly designed product that only launched to the public in February after participating last year in the Y Combinator program. According to a landing post on Divvyshot, Divvyshot will begin winding down operations as of today. Existing users can continue to use Divvyshot; however no new accounts will be issued and our iPhone application will no longer be available for download. We’ve always given users access to their original-resolution photos and we hope that this feature will make the transition off Divvyshot easier.” (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Facebook   Microsoft Corp

4. YouTube Infrastructure Costs Vastly Overestimated: Report Explore GigaOM (Jun 17 2009) YouTube is much closer to breaking even than widely thought, says a firm with intimate knowledge of global infrastructure costs. A widely publicized Credit Suisse report that said Google would lose $470 million on the site this year neglected to account for factors such as peering traffic, wholesale bandwidth deals and cheap data center locations. Where the bank said YouTube’s costs will amount to $711 million in 2009, RampRate, a San Francisco-based company that advises large companies on IT infrastructure, says the actual cost is $415 million. Given Credit Suisse’s revenue estimate for YouTube, that would give the site an operating loss of $174 million this year. If you use other people’s revenue numbers — for instance, Jefferies said $500 million — the site would actually turn a profit. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Google

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