The World Wide Web is chock full of information that’s uploaded, downloaded, searched, and viewed around the clock. So, it’s no wonder all that info needs a ton of resting space. According to the World Bank, 32.8% of people are connected to the Web, and they are a busy bunch creating many exabytes of data that need to be served and stored somewhere.
In order to meet this demand, companies around the globe are building bigger, faster, and stronger servers. Here is a countdown of the most massive servers in the world that are helping to meet the Internet’s hosting requirements. Check out the 6 largest servers in the world:
6. Dublin’s Data
At just over 500,000 square feet, the Microsoft Data Center in Ireland’s capital city of Dublin is one of Europe’s largest. It houses thousands of servers and uses a unique and innovative cooling system to keep all those busy servers cool. Instead of central air conditioning, this data center uses naturally cool outside air to keep the facility’s operating temperature at a consistent 74 degrees without any additional cost.
5. Miami Super Server
NAP of the Americas is in the heart of sunny Miami, Florida. The Terremark flagship data center tops out at about 750,000 square feet and is built strong enough to withstand a category 5 hurricane and the storm waters that come with it. The NAP, or Network Access Point, is also outfitted with two 50-foot diameter satellite dishes as emergency backup in case hard-line communication is down.
4. Internet in India
With 900,000 square feet of servers, the Tulip Telecom Data Center in Bangalore, India is definitely the country’s largest. Mostly a host for cloud storage, the Tulip center is the most eco-friendly data center in all of Asia. Not only that, the center’s network has a worldwide reach of over 2,500 locations.
3. Data in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia’s very own Metro Data Center boasts a whopping 980,000 square feet of server space, beating Tulip Telecom by just 80,000 square feet. And, all that storage requires a ton of power. Luckily the data center has an onsite power station that’s capable of producing upwards of 100 megawatts of electricity a day.
2. Chicago Networking
When it comes to server storage and data center heavy hitters, the 1 million square foot club is exclusive. With 1.1 million square feet, the Lakeside Tech Center in Chicago, Illinois is a windy city goliath. The Lakeside Center was originally designed in the early 1900′s to house printing presses, but has been retrofitted to support servers for the Digital Realty Trust Company.
1. Mega Storage in Vegas
The mothership of all servers is located in none other than Las Vegas, Nevada. The Switch NAP Data Center is an unbelievable 2.2 million square foot super server. It’s in a class all it’s own and has the most sophisticated cooling system able to pinpoint heat sources and neutralize them before they cause damage; perfect for the desert.
So, in terms of the world’s largest super servers, the ones above top the list.
These servers all have far more room than the average business will ever need – but, when it comes to servers on a smaller scale, there are plenty of companies offering ASP.net hosting or space on a shared Linux server that can surely take care of that.