Places You Just Can’t Go! A Video Tour of Microsoft Global Foundation Services (GFS) Datacenters.

Microsoft has been building mega datacenters for almost a decade.  Data Center Knowledge puts Microsoft’s datacenters in Quincy, San Antonio, Chicago, and Dublin in 4 of the top 10 spots for the largest datacenters in the world, and those are only the ones we know about.  This software company sure has amassed what can only be called a spectacular array of hardware.  We have all heard the talk of “The Cloud.”  Microsoft is putting it into practice with industry leading cloud services like XBOXLive,  Hotmail, Office 365, Azure, and a host of other cloud based service offerings.  Steve Ballmer is betting the future of Microsoft on the cloud and its associated software plus services operating model.  I am from the world of IT.  I know that infrastructure determines function.  I want to see what’s behind the curtain.  Until recently the answer to the questions about what is behind those razor wire topped fences with laser guided intrusion detection and prevention systems, and the security guards who look nice enough to possibly be the maintenance crew but make you wonder what kind of hurt they could put on you if you approached to close, went unanswered.  Recently the GFS Team released a video tour of some of their datacenters.  While this is not an all access pass it does go a long way into describing the Infrastructure, technology goals, and services offered by these amazing datacenters.  I have to give it to Microsoft, its great to work for a company who is willing to go all the way.  They have taken 3 steps into the darkness to light the future of datacenter technologies for the rest of the world.  Watch the video and enjoy your inside look.