All right, we know that what Google does is usually groundbreaking, but in an attempt to out-Google themselves, the company broke ground yesterday on a 600-Million Euro (approximately $773 in U.S. Dollars) datacenter.
The company reported that the investment in the datacenter will stretch over a four-year term, and plans to have the mother of all datacenters partially operational by the beginning of the first half of 2016, and fully functional in 2017.
Ground Breaking Google Breaks Ground on a New Data Center in the Netherlands
Google is staying mum about the investment and only leaking small snippets of information and maintaining “radio silence” with the press, only allowing a few blog posts as well as the following quote from the head of European data center relations(who also prefers to remain nameless, notice a theme here?):
“The new Dutch data center will benefit from the latest designs in cooling and electrical technology…It will be free-cooled–taking advantage of natural assets like cool air and grey water to keep our servers cool. Our data centers use 50 percent less energy than a typical datacenter – and our intention is to run this new facility on renewable energy.”
Which is music to our ears as datacenters do pull a profound and impacting amount of electricity, so much so, that Greenpeace among other watchdog groups, issued a report and gave some of the biggest names (including Google) in the data center business, quite the tongue lashing regarding the lack of renewable energy. So, if this is true, Google may make Greenpeace’s “A” list when its next study comes out (for more on the Greenpeace grades and how your favorite social media / search engine / online retailer ((AWS we’re talking to you)) click here.)
Not only will the new facility be green it hopes to add some green to the pockets of the estimated 150 new employees that will be needed at datacenter. From IT to engineering, food services to security, Google plans on not just helping the environment, but helping the Dutch economy and the European Union as well.
Although the project seems to be beneficial to all involved, Google and the EU aren’t exactly answering each other’s “Friend Request” anytime soon. In fact, Google (who has had a presence in Europe since 2007, and this new datacenter will be the fourth in its line of “hyper-efficient” facilities) “…needs to…do more to make its search service fair or face formal antitrust charges…” according to the EU’s Competition Chief Joaquin Almunia.
Again, Google had no rebuttal on Almunia’s statement, and plans to build away in such locations as Ireland, Finland, and Belgium. Google may see this as a way of creating competition in the marketplace by adding datacenters in areas where Facebook and Twitter already have datacenters up and running, but so far, the EU does see it that way, and Google, being Google, does not seem to care.
