Facebook breaks ground on new datacenter in Oregon
Facebook Inc. broke ground Thursday in Central Oregon for the social networking company's first custom-built data center.
The new 147,000-square-foot data center, which Facebook needs to handle its rapidly expanding user base, will be built in Prineville, Ore., northeast of Bend.
Facebook Inc.
Artist rendering of new Prineville Data Center
As many as 200 workers will be involved in construction of the Prineville Data Center during the next 12 months. Palo Alto's Facebook, which has become cash-flow positive, said it plans to hire about 35 full-time employees to staff the center.
The Bend Bulletin newspaper, citing Crook County records, said the facility will cost an estimated $188 million and open in mid-2011. (UPDATE: Facebook confirmed the cost of the project. Construction is expected to start next month and the center should be operating in about 12 months.)
Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of technical operations, said in a note posted on Facebook that the company needed to move beyond leasing data center space to meet growing demand to store the profiles, status updates, photos and other information from more than 350 million members.
"We have come a long way from our roots in a Harvard dorm room, when Facebook was only available at some colleges and run on a single server," Heiliger wrote.
"Now with more than 350 million people worldwide and our service and business continuing to grow, we must constantly scale our technical infrastructure to meet the demand and deliver you a fast, reliable experience. An important step along the way is to build a custom data center so that we can design it to meet our unique needs."
According to the Bend Bulletin, the identity of the company behind the data center known only as "Project Vitesse" had previously been a local mystery.
"This is great news for Prineville and really the entire state," Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said in news release. "The stable, family-wage jobs and economic stimulus they will provide to this area during construction are a bright spot as this nation and this state climb out of this recession."
The center will use energy-efficient technologies, including an "evaporative cooling system" that evaporates water to cool incoming air during warmer months. Cold air will be pumped in from the outside during the remaining 60 percent to 70 percent of the year, while excess heat generated by computer servers will be used to warm offices, Facebook said.
UPDATE: Facebook spokesman Larry Yu said one of the main reasons the company selected Prineville was for its dry climate, which works better with the planned heating and cooling systems.
Facebook Inc.
Artist rendering of Prineville Data Center
Facebook Inc.
Artist rendering of entrance
| January 21 2010 at 01:30 PM
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