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Facebook grows up, builds its own data center

Facebook breaks ground on data center of its own.
Written by Sam Diaz, Inactive

Facebook sure has come a long way. Remember when it was just a college thing and had no photo or video capabilities. Today, my parents and my kids are on Facebook alongside old friends from high school, the old neighborhood and professional contacts.

With so many people doing so many things on Facebook, it's no wonder the social networking site has had to up its game over the years - from a few servers to leased data center space and now to its own data center.

In a blog post, the company said it broke ground today on its first custom data center in Prineville, Ore., a facility designed to be "high efficient and cost-effective."

The company also boasted its green initiatives, playing up technology that allows the company to minimize the environmental impact and reduce energy costs. Among the technologies the company is highlighting:

  • An evaporative cooling system designed to cool incoming air, instead of traditional chilling systems that require more energy.
  • An "airside economizer" that operates between 60-70 percent of the year to cool the facility by simply bringing in colder air from the outside.
  • Re-use of excess heat from the computer servers to warm office space during the colder months.
  • Use of a new proprietary Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) technology that reduces electricity usage by 12 percent.

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