After
CNET reported Google may be building a floating data center in San
Francisco Bay, a report suggested it's actually a floating Google Glass
store. Either way, it's almost certainly Google.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
On Friday, I reported exclusively that a company, very likely Google, has set up shop on Treasure Island, located between San Francisco and Oakland, and has been building a large structure made from shipping, or cargo, containers on a barge. Some evidence suggests it might be a floating data center, including the fact that Google itself has a patent for such a concept.
Google has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
(Credit:
John Ewing/Portland Press Herald)
The Portland (Maine) Press Herald also ran a story
recently about a structure on a barge showing up there, and photographs
taken by the newspaper look similar to what is being built in the San
Francisco Bay. Plus, the barge being used in San Francisco and the barge
in Maine are both owned by the same company,
By and Large, which is leasing a large hangar adjacent to the Treasure
Island pier on which the San Francisco barge is docked. I found that Tim
Brandon, who was said by the Treasure Island Development Authority to
be tied to By and Large, was also tied directly to Google.
Now, a report from KPIX -- the San Francisco CBS affiliate -- suggests that the Treasure Island project may not be a floating data center at all. Rather, KPIX -- owned by CNET parent CBS -- reported that the project is going to be a floating Google Glass store, and that the plan might be to tow it into San Francisco's Fort Mason for some indeterminate time.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57609509-93/san-franciscos-bay-barge-mystery-floating-data-center-or-google-glass-store/