It is interesting how much news Google gets by expanding its data center capacity at a site.
Justin Hobbs, a facilities technician for Google, works on his computer in January at the company's data center in Pryor. Google announced Wednesday plans to expand the Pryor facility, adding about 50 jobs. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World file
Published: 4/4/2012 11:49 AM
Last Modified: 4/4/2012 1:34 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY –Mike Wooten, Google Data Center Operations Manager, had previously said the company was looking into building a much smaller auxiliary building to support its Pryor data center.
But that’s not what he announced during a press conference at the state capital building Wednesday.
“We’re going to construct a new building that will house twice as much server capacity,” Wooten said.
The new building slated for Google’s 800-acre campus at Mid-America Industrial Park will be roughly the same size as the 130,000 square-foot data center that opened just six months ago, and enable Google to add 50 jobs to its current 100-employee Pryor workforce.
There are many like the so called Nebraska Edge project that are hoping to land a big data center from Google in their area. Site selection is complex and has a long list of factors.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s data center services include:
- Location and site selection strategy
- Site due diligence
- Project management
- Purchase, lease and build-to-suit negotiations
- Financing strategies
- Business and economic incentives negotiations
- Critical environment management
- Project and development services
With Google's 12 data center sites you may say why not add another site in my area. (Note the list has only 11 sites, and I included Dublin where Google has announced expansion.)
But, the one answer a site selection consultant has difficulty answering is what is the right number of data center sites and how does a new site affect your operations. Google has 12 main data centers that are bigger than 5MW. I would assume there are another 120 sites (10X the main data centers) to support lower latency. Here is a list of the public and private peering sites which gives you an idea of the other Google locations.
How a data center site interacts with this system is a question that only Google can answer. it is useful to have consultants take fresh looks at where data center sites can be. Given Google has 800 acres in Pryor, OK and hundreds of acres in other sites in the US, you shouldn't hold your breath for a new Google data center site in the US.
In the same way FedEx has a strategy for its site locations, Google has their own.
Why is it news that Google announces a data center expansion? Because Google articles drive traffic. The way the news is written it seems like many are not aware that there is a new Google data center project announced every 3-6 months.