In wartime, megascale data centers may make way for distributed architectures

Link: “Data embassies” and safeguarding digital assets during wartime, by Rina Chandran in Rest of WorldAmong the targets in the war between Iran and the US have been data centers. AWS was hit by drones, and Iran has threatened to target US tech. This piece makes the point that these buildings don’t just store vast amounts of civilian customer data: increasingly, they store military data, too. That make them an even more attractive target and makes the security consequences of an attack that much worse.Meanwhile, data centers — including here in Pennsylvania, where I live, as well as Chile, India, and many other places around the world — have been the cause of significant objections from local populations. They push energy costs up, have a serious environmental footprint, and can even change the local climate.So why have these giant megascale data centers at all?““It’s very possible that we see a move away from hyperscalers to small data centers for greater safety,” [Viktor…