Photo essay [Information Technology Data Centres]

Google's data-centres, the biggest in the world, could easily set the bar for an industry-wide standard, apart from the fact that it builds everything itself. Wet, red and blue: water pipes in one of Google's biggest US data centres, based at Dalles, Oregon. These corporate colour-coded pipes are responsible for carrying water in and out of the site. The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled. The Dalles facility was opened in 2006, at a reported cost of $600m. More than 150 staff are employed full-time on-site.