Facebook Announces Data Center Near Arctic Circle
In what is both an excellent location for cooling purposes and a terrific backdrop for a horror movie, Facebook will build a data center in the town of Luleå, in northern Sweden--1,000km north of Stockholm, near the Arctic Circle.
Indeed, Reuters reported that Facebook said in a statement that the cold climate will make cooling the sea of servers a breeze. The three 300,000-square foot server buildings will also run on hydro power, which is environmentally friendly.
The Luleå facility will be Facebook’s first data center (er--make that “data centre”) outside of the U.S., which makes sense given the fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of a billion users, the majority of Facebookers reside outside of the U.S. With a node located geographically closer, many of the world’s Facebook users should see an uptick in performance, too.
Luleå Mayor Karl Peterson and CEO for Luleå Business Agency Matz Engman
The initial construction contract, awarded to a combination of Sweden’s NCC group and the U.S.-based DRP Construction and Fortis Construction, is for $121 million. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2014, with the first building slated to start running less than a year from now.
You can already like the data center project on Facebook here.
Indeed, Reuters reported that Facebook said in a statement that the cold climate will make cooling the sea of servers a breeze. The three 300,000-square foot server buildings will also run on hydro power, which is environmentally friendly.
The Luleå facility will be Facebook’s first data center (er--make that “data centre”) outside of the U.S., which makes sense given the fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of a billion users, the majority of Facebookers reside outside of the U.S. With a node located geographically closer, many of the world’s Facebook users should see an uptick in performance, too.
Luleå Mayor Karl Peterson and CEO for Luleå Business Agency Matz Engman
The initial construction contract, awarded to a combination of Sweden’s NCC group and the U.S.-based DRP Construction and Fortis Construction, is for $121 million. The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2014, with the first building slated to start running less than a year from now.
You can already like the data center project on Facebook here.
