Microsoft has announced plans to further expand its EMEA mega data center in Dublin, Ireland. The expansion, due for completion in Spring 2014, represents a new investment of €170 million and is driven by the growth in demand for Microsoft’s cloud services.
This second expansion brings the total level of investment at the Microsoft’s Dublin facility to €594 million, increasing the data center campus’ computing capacity by 15,700 m2 (169,000 square feet) bringing the total footprint up to 54,255 m2 (584,000 square feet). The mega data center was officially opened in 2009, with the first expansion announced in February 2012.
Office 365, Bing, Azure…
The continued program of investment is driven by the growth in demand for Microsoft’s cloud services. “This expansion is evidence of the continued demand for Microsoft’s cloud services such as Office 365, Bing, Skype, Xbox Live, and the Windows Azure platform across Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director, Microsoft Ireland. “As the demand for these cloud-based services continues to grow we are investing to meet our customers’ needs.”
Microsoft’s mega data center makes extensive use of Ireland’s cool outside air to efficiently cool its facilities year round with air side economization, resulting in greater power efficiency and an annual Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) average of 1.25 during peak usage hours. The data center would also use only 1 percent of the water used by other similarly sized data centers in the industry today. With a strong focus on sustainability, approximately 99 percent of all waste at the facility is recycled, including packaging, pallets, crates, and cabling.
