The construction of the servers, scheduled to start during November 2007, is expected to be completed by 2009.
This is the first ‘mega data centre’ deployment outside the US specifically targeted for the growth and performance of Windows Live services, said John Mangelaars, vice president of Online Services Group, EMEA at Microsoft.
According to the Associated Press, Mr Mangelaars said that the principal goal was to improve download speed and storage capacity. He added that Microsoft had 150 million account holders in his regions of responsibility, chiefly in Europe, and expected to double that customer base within the next few years. Additional investment is in the pipeline to equip the proposed data centre with server technology.
Microsoft’s Ireland’s managing director Joe Macri said that the data center would employ 100-120 for subcontracts. The current staff strength of Microsoft in Ireland is 1,200.
Microsoft has been competing against web-centric companies such as Google and Yahoo to shift its focus from software applications for PCs to services that replicate same functions and are delivered through a web browser. The company opened a similar data center in San Antonio, Texas in July 2007. Furthermore, both Microsoft and Yahoo are building data centers, separately, in Quincy region, Washington. Google also announced this year that it would construct three data centers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Iowa, at a cost of approximately $600 million each.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
