The Death Star of Data Centers

Industrial Light & Magic's new office space claims to have the largest state-of-the-art high-performance data center in the industry, with 600 miles of cable that connect visual-effects artists' desktops via a 1-Gbit network to a 10-Gbit backbone network linked to the data center, 10 times more bandwidth than the former offices. At the former studio in San Rafael, Calif., artists had 100 Mbps to the desktop and 1-Gbit backbone. A new 13,500-square-foot data center will manage Industrial Light & Magic's digital images around the clock, using more than 3,500 high-end Advanced Micro Devices Inc. computer processors.