Cloudflare Lava Lamps
The Verdict
"About 100 lava lamps in the Cloudflare lobby, with a wall-mounted camera recording the wax motion as one source of entropy for the company's cryptographic random number generator. Free, weekday business hours, takes about five minutes."
What you need to know
What’s There
A wall of about 100 lava lamps in the lobby of Cloudflare’s SoMa headquarters. A camera mounted on the wall continuously records the random motion of the wax blobs. The video feed is one of several sources Cloudflare uses to generate cryptographic random numbers that help secure internet traffic for the sites and services on its network.
The lobby is open during business hours. A small explanatory display near the lamps describes how the system works. The visit takes about five minutes.
Visiting
Hours: Lobby accessible during business hours, roughly 9:00 AM-5:00 PM weekdays.
Cost: Free
What to know: Working office lobby. Don’t touch the lamps. Access can vary; check whether the lobby is open to walk-ins.
Getting There
Transit: Caltrain to San Francisco station (4th and Townsend), 1-minute walk. Muni T-Third or N-Judah to 4th Street.
Parking: Metered street parking on Townsend. Garages in SoMa nearby.
Walking: Near Oracle Park, the Caltrain station, and the South Beach waterfront.
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