Google will invest another $ 1 billion in its data center in the Council Bluffs

Just a few years ago, the place where one of the most well-known data centers of Google Corp. in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, USA, is now based, was nothing special. It was an ordinary field. In 2007, the corporation paid for this field, becoming its owner. Several years passed until Google decided to start building a productive data center at this location, with a construction budget of $ 1 billion. Now here is one of the largest data centers of the company, which provides several Google services, including YouTube.

The data center consists of two parts, and another one is planned to be completed in the framework of the new project. Now the corporation has decided to invest an additional billion dollars in the expansion of its data center. One of the main factors that prompted the company to invest in the Council Bluffs - favorable weather conditions and tax climate. It is cool here, the energy is relatively inexpensive, the energy infrastructure is reliable, plus a lot of free land and those who want to work for the benefit of the IT sector in the region.

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Details of the new project

After the company invests an additional billion, the total investment of the corporation in the region will be $ 2.5 billion. At the same time, local authorities have already promised to return tax payments in the amount of $ 36.6 million.

Expanding the functions of the data center will allow the company to better serve its services, including the main search service, Gmail, YouTube and some other related services. Within the framework of the project, three additional blocks will be completed, in which it is planned to place thousands of servers. By the way, despite the size, relatively few people work in the data center: only about 300 specialists, including contractors. During construction, of course, workers will be hired, several hundred people, but they are, in fact. are not employees of the company. After completing the construction process, Google will offer technicians 70 additional jobs in the region.

Local authorities give the company tax breaks: for 5 years, the corporation can pay only 20% of the property tax.

The company itself offers support to local educational institutions and non-profit organizations. In addition, the region has a network of free access points that is open to all.

Construction, according to the plan, will be completed around 2019, although the company’s management does not make a clear prediction of timing.

In addition to Council Bluffs, Google also has data centers in North and South Carolina, Oklahoma and Oregon. In total, the corporation spends about 2 billion a quarter on the construction and improvement of its data centers. At the same time, the corporation prefers to expand existing data centers, rather than build new ones.

Team conditions

Everything, as usual - non-standard office, free food, own cook, excellent equipment and conditions for both work and leisure.

What does the data center look like?

But the fact that inside the data center.



This is not a photoshop, the real herd of deer, which decided to walk around the data center.



Backups are stored here, in case something goes wrong.

According to representatives of the corporation, 130 jobs have been created for IT specialists in this region, as well as hundreds of jobs (temporary) for various builders.



In 2010, the company signed a long-term contract for the purchase of “wind” energy from NextEra Energy Resources. In addition, the corporation has invested in the development of wind power plants in the region.

And here are some more photos of what is inside the data center of the company and next to it:




The area of ​​the data center is 10 680 m2.