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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
Rachel Mitchell preps a cart to repair the servers that store Google's corner of the Internet.

Google Inc opened two data centres in Asia to cater to the world's fastest growing consumer technology markets.

One of the centres is located at industrial park at Changhua in central Taiwan.

Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are all popular with global tech companies because they boast well-established privacy laws, reliable power and fibre broadband infrastructure, and skilled workforces, all essential to operating data centres, says a Reuters report.

A data centre is a facility used for housing a large number of computers that store and serve vast amounts of data, making search results and other services available to millions of users around the clock.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
A view shows the lounge area is seen during the media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

Google Inc said it will double its planned investment to $600 million for its data centre in Taiwan to cater to the world's fastest growing technology consumer markets.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
A view shows the lounge area is seen during a media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

It is one of Asia’s most efficient and environmentally friendly data centers. 

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
Two men sit in the recreation area in the Google data centre during the media tour, in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

A unique feature is the use of a night time cooling and thermal energy storage system.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
A cooling system facility is seen during the media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

The system works by cooling water at night, when temperatures are cooler, storing the cooled water in large insulated tanks where it retains it’s temperature before being pumped throughout the facility to cool the servers during the day, says Google.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST
Google's vice president of data centres Joe Kava (C) and Taiwanese government officials take part in the opening ceremony of the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park.

A team of over 60 full time employees keeps the site running, alongwith part-time and full-time contractors, from computer technicians to electrical and mechanical engineers to caterers.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

A cooling water storage facility is seen during the media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

A cafeteria is seen during a media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Different generations of server machines are displayed during the media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Joe Kava, Google's vice president of data centres, demonstrates the iris check at a security gate during a media tour in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

Click NEXT to see the people who run the Google's high tech data centres... 

Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Tieg Weathers cuts a piece of pipe to patch into a new cooling system.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Denise Harwood diagnoses an overheated CPU. Some of the world's most efficient servers are located here.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Mike Barham swaps out a motherboard. When server parts break, they first try to repair them. If that is not possible, it is broken into raw materials (steel, plastic, copper, etc.) and recycle the components.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Technicians Mounir Ben Moussa and Ray Coss conduct generator maintenance.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Patrick Davillier does a visual inspection of the water pipes running below the floor.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Norman Martin makes visual inspections to ensure battery banks are charged and ready to be activated at any time.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Ash Williams points out: “Working here has shown me how important the infrastructure is, from the location to utilities, weather and most of all, people.”

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Associate Facilities Manager Jeff Hajer burns some wire in a fabrication area at Google's Lenoir center.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

An employee in the Google data centre in Changhua Coastal Industrial Park, central Taiwan.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Jon Rogers applies a floor-tile-grabber (actual name) to the floor to check the status of pipes underneath.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Mitch Fleming tightens a valve coupling to ensure we keep seawater from the Gulf of Finland in the appropriate cooling pipes.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Neal uses special equipment to completely erase all of the data on old servers.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

This control station monitors the building and power with the ability to take calls from the field, validate repair tickets and authorise repairs.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Roger Harris takes care of the infrastructure "that allows Google to do what it does,” he says.

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Take a peek inside Google's secretive data centres

Last updated on: December 17, 2013 17:45 IST

Google's Council Bluffs Iowa data center is spread across an area of 115,000 square feet.