Data Centers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

I don't think they hire that many people. I've always heard everything mostly runs itself.

[Anonymous]

In 30 years, these things will be today’s malls. Rotting, abandoned, desolate as small and more efficient technology eats their lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no nova without data centers.

Thanks AOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I specifically avoid using AI to make the data centers in NoVa get eventually shut down. Doing my part

One of many reasons to avoid using AI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In 30 years, these things will be today’s malls. Rotting, abandoned, desolate as small and more efficient technology eats their lunch.

I’m actually doubtful if that this will happen for multiple reasons.
1) We are approaching fundamental limits of Moores law. IBM is already making transistors that are only five atoms in size and you can’t have a transistor that is smaller than one atom.
2) Demand for processing power and data storage is very elastic. When it becomes cheaper people use significantly more of it.
3) AI is supercharging demand for processing power and data storage. The most promising uses for AI are extremely computationally intensive. Eg. genomic analysis and risk prediction for diseases.
Unfortunately, demand for data center space will continue to increase exponentially for the foreseeable future.

[Anonymous]

Data centers are good neighbors, as long as you're not close enough to hear any noise generated. They require relatively few people to operate, so fewer cars on the road commuting to and from them. They pay taxes but consume virtually nothing in the way of public services, so a net positive for gov't budgets. And they support the provision of tech capabilities we all want, which can't be provided from outer space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Data centers are good neighbors, as long as you're not close enough to hear any noise generated. They require relatively few people to operate, so fewer cars on the road commuting to and from them. They pay taxes but consume virtually nothing in the way of public services, so a net positive for gov't budgets. And they support the provision of tech capabilities we all want, which can't be provided from outer space.

All good points but our current power grid can’t keep pace with the demands of data centers. Loudoun BOS refuses to acknowledge this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

Maryland doesn’t have the electricity for data centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Data centers are good neighbors, as long as you're not close enough to hear any noise generated. They require relatively few people to operate, so fewer cars on the road commuting to and from them. They pay taxes but consume virtually nothing in the way of public services, so a net positive for gov't budgets. And they support the provision of tech capabilities we all want, which can't be provided from outer space.

Actually I do NOT want any generative AI capabilities. What I want is to NOT have generative AI capabilities.

[Anonymous]

More of the charm that nova brings with huge windowless buildings littering the landscape. Garbage counties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

Maryland doesn’t have the electricity for data centers.

That's great news! I hope that means those horrific things will never be coming to MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 30 years, these things will be today’s malls. Rotting, abandoned, desolate as small and more efficient technology eats their lunch.

I’m actually doubtful if that this will happen for multiple reasons.
1) We are approaching fundamental limits of Moores law. IBM is already making transistors that are only five atoms in size and you can’t have a transistor that is smaller than one atom.
2) Demand for processing power and data storage is very elastic. When it becomes cheaper people use significantly more of it.
3) AI is supercharging demand for processing power and data storage. The most promising uses for AI are extremely computationally intensive. Eg. genomic analysis and risk prediction for diseases.
Unfortunately, demand for data center space will continue to increase exponentially for the foreseeable future.

That’s a lot of effort to truly misunderstand the what you’re talking about. Old data centers are not easily retrofitted to meet power demands of new chips. As a result, it’s cheaper and easier to build new data centers. As a result, it’s not clear what is going to happen to these older data centers once they become obsolete. Will someone operate them for lower power demand computational needs? Will they just reach their end of life and be torn down or repurposed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

Maryland doesn’t have the electricity for data centers.

That's great news! I hope that means those horrific things will never be coming to MD.

They are coming. There are just debating now how much power they can be allocated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

Maryland doesn’t have the electricity for data centers.

Montgomery county could just require call SFH’s to remove the trees from their yards and install solar panels in any available yard space.

That would be totally on-brand for MoCo. And 70% of residents would love it and call the other 30% maga scum for resisting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice there aren't many on the Maryland side. One fo the reasons is zoning.

Datacenters aren't all bad. They provide very high-paying jobs (IT engineers) and they need people 24/7 so it's steady work. But, it only takes a few to man a datacenter with the footprint of a small shopping mall.

I don't think they hire that many people. I've always heard everything mostly runs itself.

I'm in the industry. Stuff breaks, and when it does, you need it back up fast because there are SLAs (contracts) about downtime. The larger companies run some tasks, like support/operations center centralized at one location, but for on-site staff at night it will be 1-2 engineers, and 1-2 security guards at a minimum. That's to cover when something breaks like a hard drive needs to be swapped or a network cable needs to be plugged in.

Then you have the day shift + on-call people, and that will be 5-10 engineers who do maintenance but also planning, along with general facilities like loading dock/shipping, HVAC maintenance (huge job due to all the cooling needs). That's the on-site jobs. The engineers make at least $100k.

So.. with the amount of space they take up, you could build a strip mall and that would be hundreds of jobs, compared to let's say 30-50 total at a datacenter. But the datacenter jobs pay very well (try finding a network engineer willing to work an on-site night shift!) and come with full benefits, often including stock options.

Also the datacenters are usually located in industrial areas where you couldn't put much else like a mall. They are working on the footprint issues -- new datacenters have 2-3 floors now, and also power, since it's a huge cost to them so everyone is incentivized to get consumption down. My last company leased space in a datacenter for our equipment and we paid by the amp for power, and it wasn't cheap.

They're kind of a necessary evil, unless you want to stop using the internet. And also go back to working from office full-time since datacenters power all the tools you need to work remotely.