The Physical Cloud

The Physical Cloud

Outside in. Layer by layer.

A free video series that walks through a data center from the fence to the rack: how each layer works, and the people who build and run it.

Watch Episode 0Open the Careers GuideWatch the trailer
1 Perimeter2 Entrance3 Operations4 Power5 Cooling6 Fire and life safety7 Connections8 Data halls
The eight layers, in the order we walk them. Lit layers have a published episode.
  1. 1Perimeter
  2. 2Entrance
  3. 3Operations
  4. 4Power
  5. 5Cooling
  6. 6Fire and life safety
  7. 7Connections
  8. 8Data halls
The entrance to the TPC campus at dusk: the TPC sign, the perimeter fence and the closed vehicle gate, with the lit gatehouse behind

TPC, the fictional campus this series explores.

The episodes

One layer at a time, from the outside in. Every episode ends with the people who work there.

Subscribe on YouTube

  1. Episode 0

    Welcome to TPC

    Where the series starts: the fictional campus we'll explore, the order we'll explore it in, and the rules this channel follows.

  2. Episode 1, layer 1: Perimeter

    The perimeter

    Before you get anywhere near a server, you meet a fence. This episode covers what each part of a perimeter does, and who builds and runs it.

  3. Episode 2, layer 2: Entrance, coming Sunday 11 October 2026

    The entrance

    Past the fence, the front door is where a site decides who gets in, and why that's harder than it looks.

  4. Episode 3, layer 3: Operations, coming Sunday 18 October 2026

    Operations

    Nobody stands next to every machine. This episode shows how a site is watched, run and looked after, every hour of every day.

  5. Episode 4, layer 4: Power, coming Sunday 25 October 2026

    Power

    The grid supply has gone, but the building is still lit. This episode follows the power from the grid to the computers, and shows what keeps it running.

  6. Layer 5

    Cooling

  7. Layer 6

    Fire and life safety

  8. Layer 7

    Connections

  9. Layer 8

    Data halls

How this series is made

TPC is a fictional campus, modeled and rendered in Unreal Engine 5 for this series. It lets us show every room, every system and every failure without revealing anything about a real site.

Your guide is Rick, who has spent twenty years inside data centers. Two rules hold for every episode:

  • No number without its source. Every figure on screen shows where it comes from.
  • No made-up senses. A sound, a smell or a vibration is only described if Rick has experienced it himself.

The narration uses an AI clone of Rick's own voice. Some 3D assets are made with the help of AI tools. No real site, employer or customer appears.

Every layer has people behind it

Security officers, electricians, shift technicians, planners and many more. These careers have many ways in: from trades like electrician or mechanic, from technical training, from IT, and from completely different jobs.

The Careers Guide lists every job the series shows, what the work involves, and how people get into it.

Open the Careers Guide