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DATA CENTER ON FIRE:
Europe's treasure trove of data burns on the Rhine
BY NIKLAS MAAK-UPDATED ON 13.03.2021-14:20
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An iconic picture: Europe's largest data center goes up in flames, a lot of data is lost forever. What does this mean for us internet users?
WITHu One of the reassuring ideas of the Internet age is the idea that our data is stored in a “cloud” and thus secured in a downright heavenly way. Thanks to the cloud, nobody has to fear that all the documents stored there will be stolen with their laptop, and anyone who throws their mobile phone into the saucepan while reading a recipe can still upload their photos and SMS to a replacement device. The data - that is the idea suggested by the propaganda language of the internet operators - float thanks to cloud technology transcended to eternal knowledge in global space; placeless, unassailable, indelible.
Of course, the “cloud” is just metaphor. Data is stored in data centers, which are sometimes called “data centers”, sometimes with an idyllic, rural undertone “server farm”, as if data were being grown there by hard-working electricians instead of corn and potatoes. The fact that data centers, in which one of the greatest treasures of the information age - namely billions in value - are stored, are housed in faceless, gigantic halls outside the cities, is not only due to security concerns, but also to the fact that their locatability is no more an issue than their physicality - and their filthiness. The internet is literally a dirty business.
Despite all efforts to achieve climate neutrality in the near future, data centers still consume enormous amounts of energy. If the internet were a country, it would come directly after the United States and China in the disciplines of power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and bitcoin mining, pursued by speculators in the age of asset inflation, does not improve that balance. The emergency power generators in many data centers are often operated with diesel. It can be said that the seemingly virtual, environmentally friendly Internet actually smells of exhaust fumes. And that it can burn.
Burned down five floors with space for 12,000 servers
A devastating fire has now broken out at Europe's largest cloud provider OVH. For reasons that have not yet been clarified, a five-story high data center with space for 12,000 servers in Strasbourg on the banks of the Rhine burned down completely last Wednesday, and another building was half destroyed. The destroyed building also housed the sensitive "hosted private cloud" in which the data of large companies is stored. The French Internet service provider, which is the European market leader in hosting with more than 260,000 servers in more than twenty data centers, was forced to shut down all four halls. Hundreds of firefighters fought the fire, 3.6 million websites went offline, including government portals, banks, news channels and the government website data.gouv.fr.
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