"Internet machine is a multi-screen film about the invisible infrastructures of the internet. The film reveals the hidden materiality of our data by exploring some of the machines through which ‘the cloud’ is transmitted and transformed. Internet machine (showing now at Big Bang Data or watch the trailer) documents one of the largest, most secure and ‘fault-tolerant’ data-centres in the world, run by Telefonica in Alcalá, Spain. The film explores these hidden architectures with a wide, slowly moving camera. The subtle changes in perspective encourage contemplative reflection on the spaces where internet data and connectivity are being managed. In this film I wanted to look beyond the childish myth of ‘the cloud’, to investigate what the infrastructures of the internet actually look like. It felt important to be able to see and hear the energy that goes into powering these machines, and the associated systems for securing, cooling and maintaining them. What we find, after being led through layers of identification and security far higher than any airport, are deafeningly noisy rooms cocooning racks of servers and routers. In these spaces you are buffeted by hot and cold air that blusters through everything. Server rooms are kept cool through quiet, airy ‘plenary’ corridors that divide the overall space. There are fibre optic connections routed through multiple, redundant, paths across the building. In the labyrinthine corridors of the basement, these cables connect to the wider internet through holes in rough concrete walls. Power is supplied not only through the mains, but backed up with warm caverns of lead batteries, managed by gently buzzing cabinets of relays and switches. These are backed up in turn by rows of yellow generators, supplied by diesel storage tanks and contracts with fuel supply companies so that the data centre can run indefinitely until power returns. The outside of the building is a facade of enormous stainless steel water tanks, containing tens of thousands of litres of cool water, sitting there in case of fire. And up on the roof, to the sound of birdsong, is a football-pitch sized array of shiny aluminium ‘chillers’ that filter and cool the air going into the building. In experiencing these machines at work, we start to understand that the internet is not a weightless, immaterial, invisible cloud, and instead to appreciate it as a very distinct physical, architectural and material system. This was a particularly exciting project, a chance for an ambitious and experimental location shoot in a complex environment. Telefónica were particularly accommodating and allowed unprecedented access to shoot across the entire building, not just in the ‘spectacular’ server rooms. Thirty two locations were shot inside the data centre over the course of two days, followed by five weeks of post-production. I had to invent some new production methods to create a three-screen installation, based on some techniques I developed over ten years ago. The film was shot using both video and stills, using a panoramic head and a Canon 5D mkIII. The video was shot using the Magic Lantern RAW module on the 5D, while the RAW stills were processed in Lightroom and stitched together using Photoshop and Hugin. The footage was then converted into 3D scenes using camera calibration techniques, so that entirely new camera movements could be created with a virtual three-camera rig. The final multi-screen installation is played out in 4K projected across three screens." - ((°}

(chiediamo il sequel a caldera 21) - ((°}

Se venite da me vi faccio vedere anche la cabina di trasformazione... - Marco d'Itri

vengo pure a spolverare le fibre in tenuta da cameriera! - ((°}

Pics or - Ubikindred

at your own risk, Ubik - ((°}

:D - Ubikindred

(che poi ho sempre sognato di fare la donnina dei remote hand --MAI incappata in una donna, mai mai mai) - ((°}

In questo campo le donne non esistono - Ubikindred

ma sai, in posti tipo dallas o hong kong magari... e invece niente. che qualifiche chiederanno? mi candido subito! - ((°}

ce ne sono, ce ne sono. ma operatori RH donne? - ((°}

Sono ragionevolmente sicuro che la mia collega che si occupa del lavoro in datacenter sia proprio una donna. Comunque era un'offerta seria, se qualcuno vuole fare un giro mi mandi pure un'email. - Marco d'Itri

Marco, ma va a pulire le fibre? O.O (grazie, se passo dalle tue parti approfitto volentieri della tua disponibilità) - ((°}

marco, organizzia una visita guidate e count me in - pm10

Non servono preparativi complicati. Sai dove trovarmi, quando ti trovi in zona manda un'email con qualche ora di anticipo e posso confermare se ci sono o no. - Marco d'Itri

la personcina che chiami al telefono per andare alla macchina e fare i remote hand (sostituire parti, pulire fibre, controllare cavi, quelle cose lì: in idioma locale, lo tziracco 2.0) - ((°}

dimmi dimmi - ((°}

(RH è standard, comunque) - ((°}

In effetti manco io, ma va detto che da noi li chiamavamo i peppuzzielli, per cui forse non facciamo molto testo. - Ubikindred

peppuzzielli FTW - ((°}

(una prece pei peppuzzielli di uind e per uind tutta, visto che siamo in tema)(gli sarà andato a fuoco il datacentre? l'escavatrice avrà incocciato nel cavo sbagliato? vattasape') - ((°}

Era questo il post di cui mi parlavi? (io donnine dei RH le ho beccate a Parigi telehouse, un genio, e telx NYC, una pippa mostruosa - Dyo

yep! (io posso ambire al ruolo di pippa mostruosa) - ((°}

Credo che Raffa sia stato un ottimo maestro - Dyo

mica solo Raffa :) - ((°}

Il massimo che ho potuto vedere in vita mia è stato il datacenter di telecom italia a Bologna. Mai vista tanta concentrazione di hardware di alto livello. Spero di andare a vedere quello di Lepida, dove stiamo per spostare un po' di VM - Cristian Conti