Comments on: Google spent a billion on infrastructure last quarter

By: Doug Sabella

Doug Sabella — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:30:00 +0000

You can be certain that this unprecedented investment in data centers is being managed by a robust management software system that optimizes the performance of their data centers from a power, people, equipment and process perspective. Data centers are living organisms that require constant care and feeding that go well beyond the initial capital investments. Moores law drives a never ending need to refresh technology and an enterprise requires sophisticated software to optimally refresh and manage an enterprises data center(s). This type software is referred to as Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM). Far to many enterprises have their head in the sand and pay little attention to the management systems required to optimize the performance of these huge capital investments. Ultimately enterprises lose their ability to properly manage their investments which becomes a competitive disadvantage from both a customer satisfaction and cost perspective.

By: dabble53

dabble53 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:28:13 +0000

Both, I would think. The land it’s on would be property and the structure contents would be equipment.
They are probably doing it simply because owning the power plant is probably cheaper than paying a power plant to supply all the energy they consume. Kind of like large companies self-insuring.

By: Michael Mason

Michael Mason — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:00:43 +0000

That’s a lot of paint ;)

By: Derrick Harris

Derrick Harris — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:03:00 +0000

That’s a good point. I wonder if it’s considered “property and equipment” or some other type of investment, though.

By: rameden

rameden — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:27:36 +0000

Google bought a $200 million stake in a West Texas wind farm it says produces enough electricity to light up 60,000 homes. They are pushing into the sustainable energy sector with full force.

By: Ulrich Voß

Ulrich Voß — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:46:41 +0000

Google does (did?) invest a lot of money in renewable energy. Some hundred millions per year of Google’s capex *may* go there.

By: Q3

Q3 — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:07:09 +0000

$1 Billion isn’t too much considering that Google is now venturing into the energy sector and started the fastest commercial internet service in the country. These are all intelligent investments which will start reaping benefits soon.

By: A S

A S — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 03:52:17 +0000

Wonder if Google Fiber rollout is counted in the infrastructure costs. If yes, wonder how much it’d be.