A local venture capitalist, Jason Caplain, is reporting of a rumor that Google may be opening shop here in the Triangle. No sources are quoted, and no further information is given. I don’t know where they get their information, but VCs are generally known to be tuned in to the emerging business scene.
Caplian speculates that Google would get here through an acquisition, rather than build fresh. That makes me wonder if Google had anything to do with local hosting provider Hosted Solutions mysteriously calling off their seemed-like-a-done-deal recent merger plans. Since Google would be more interested in people, not datacenters, Hosted Solutions probably isn’t a target.
Trilug has had its last two sysadmins hired away to Google and shipped off to California. Now I’m in that role. What would I do if the phone rings, especially now that moving’s not a requirement?
[Update: 5 Jan 2007] Google has purchased a start-up in Chapel Hill called Skia.
I’m not holding my breath on this just yet.
Also, you’re almost certainly right on the people, not datacenters, especially after reading last week’s Cringely.
It’s interesting, and I’d probably try to get on with them, but I have no reason to believe I’d fare any better than I did the last time. 😉
Though I was reading a thread on the SAGE listserv that says that even though they were targeting sysadmins for the “Site Reliability Engineer” positions, they really wanted developers and low-level network guys. That makes me feel a little better about not getting the job, because it wasn’t really in my skillset anyway.
It’s interesting, and I’d probably try to get on with them, but I have no reason to believe I’d fare any better than I did the last time. 😉
Though I was reading a thread on the SAGE listserv that says that even though they were targeting sysadmins for the “Site Reliability Engineer” positions, they really wanted developers and low-level network guys. That makes me feel a little better about not getting the job, because it wasn’t really in my skillset anyway.
You can say that again!
Actually Google might be very interested in data centers….
If you read Cringely’s latest piece, he describes seeing a newly designed “google box” that holds 5000 Operton CPUs (and 3.5 petabytes). According to him, Google is trying to place these mobile datacenters all over the country to be closer to their “customers”.
The triangle would be a nice place for several reasons, with good data access and relatively cheap real estate among others.
read more here: Google-Mart
Everyone’s a comedian… 😉