The high price of cloud computing

All those bits and bites flying around the Internet get processed in hundreds of data centers around the country, with ever increasing power consumption and costs.

The air June 15

Google's two new computing centers are seen from the air June 15, 2006 in The Dalles, Ore.

Eve Troeh: Every gadget seems headed for the Internet -- e-book tablets, Wi-Fi TV. We're already spending fewer minutes on our cell phones, and more megabytes; people are talking over the Internet, with apps like Skype.

...can be a no-go if it might compromise data center performance. These companies pride themselves on speed and security. Just getting into a data center took lots of phone calls, paperwork and an official guide.