"A "distributed" approach, with both the search index and the additional data spread out over a larger number of smaller data centers. With this approach, smaller data centers would contain locally relevant information and a small proportion of globally replicated data. Many search queries common to a particular area could be answered using the content stored in a local data center, while other queries would be passed on to different data centers. - Bertrand Doux from Bookmarklet

"The distributed approach remains a long-term aim, Baeza-Yates admits. "But for the Internet," he adds, "long-term is only about five years." - Bertrand Doux