Security, shell corporations, and tarps. Google has shrouded their San Francisco barge in mystery, and it’s only making the curiosity worse. Now there is news of a second barge, this time on the other side of the country in Portland, Maine. Just like the first, we have no idea what it’s for. Unlike the first, some have gone right up to it and taken photos… even looked inside.
The “other” barge — four containers tall, four containers wide, and four containers long — was built in Connecticut and tugged to Portland. The containers are welded together, and interior walls have been removed to create larger rooms within the structure. The upper-tier levels have doors on either end of the structure, leading us to believe it needs to be manned, and won’t be a ghosted data center.
The information on the barge itself suggests it belongs to the same “shell” company that was responsible for the first structure in San Francisco, By and Large LLC. This also comes with news that Google coerced at least one Coast Guard employee to sign a non-disclosure agreement regarding the structure(s). The west coast barge is tightly controlled, and chains block anyone from getting near the dock near it. It’s often covered in tarps, and those who have been found poking around are sometimes watched by “Security” personnel.
In Portland, the Press Herald reports that a company named Cianbro Corp. is installing “undisclosed technology equipment” within the structure. Workers aren’t being told what the barge is meant for, or who owns it. Oddly enough, By and Large owns four of these barges, and all seem to follow a binary code for numbering them. We know that San Francisco has the first and second, with Portland having the third. Now the question is where the fourth is.
VIA: Gizmodo
This is terrifying and amazing.
I told you guys before to leave these things alone.
I can say Niantic though 😉
Hmmm what are they up to…
The 4th one probably sunk, along with the data you thought you were putting into GoogleDocs or GoogleDive, or whatever its called now. 😉