IBM plans building spree: To build $360M data center in N.C.

IBM on Friday will announce that it will build a $360 million data center in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina to deliver cloud computing services. Big Blue will also launch its eighth cloud computing center in Tokyo.

The building spree is all part of IBM's plan to deliver cloud computing services to its clients. To build out the North Carolina data center, IBM said it will renovate an existing building on its Research Park campus to test out its "new enterprise data center design principles."

Needless to say IBM's new data centers will focus on energy efficiency and the Research Park location will play a big role in its Project Big Green initiative.

Among the key specs of the Research Park data center:

• The first phase of the buildout will occupy 60,000 square feet of raised floor data center space and can be expanding in modular increments.
• In the winter, the data center can switch to "free-cooling mode" to limit power consumption.
• The mechanical system design for the data center is 50 percent more efficient than the industry average.