Microsoft Plans $500 Million Chicago Data Center

miller60 writes "Microsoft is planning a huge new data center in the Chicago area, as it continues to expand its Internet infrastructure in an effort to keep pace with Google in web-based services. The new facility in Northlake, Ill. may cost more than $500 million and is expected to span 440,000 square feet. Microsoft opened a 470,000 square foot data center in Quincy, Washington earlier this year, and is building a similar facility in San Antonio. Microsoft has also submitted plans for a $500 million data center campus in Dublin, Ireland."

What I want to know is...

[raidient]

Will it be running Linux?

Impressive investment, but ...

[Mostly a lurker]

... will it run Linux?

If not, Microsoft is going to be hard pressed to match Google in performance, however much money they throw at the problem.

Why Chicago?

[UnknowingFool]

What was the reasoning behind Chicago? I'm not saying that Chicago is a bad choice but it would seem to me that there are better choices. The reason I would not put Chicago on top of the list of places is infrastructure. During the last few summer, Chicago was one of the cities that experienced rolling black outs because their electric grid couldn't handle the load. Also Chicago has hard winters which could cause disruptions during those months. And then you have the initial cost of building in Chicago. Land in Chicago, like most cities, isn't cheap. I don't know much about Google's data centers but their centers seem to have several things in common: cheap land and abundant electricity.

Re:Upcoming challenge

[morgan_greywolf]

The big challenge is going to be getting NetBEUI to work between all those locations.

Errrmmmm...NetBEUI isn't routeab....oh, I get it, you were making a funny.

Here. Let me try:

Another big challenge will be trying to get Bob working on their desktops!

There, did I nail it?

Re:Why Chicago?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rolling blackouts in Chicago? You need to provide a link for that one, because it's just not true. Land costs? Again you have bass-ackwards. You really have no idea what your talking about do you?

Servers, check! Services, not so check.

[miffo.swe]

Now if they just could have any useful services. Competing with google will take much more than increasing bandwidth and processing power. Current services that try their utmost to tie into the desktop just plain sucks. It should be the other way around.

Re:Why Chicago?

[JamJam]

Then again, by population Chicago is America's 3rd largest city http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population [wikipedia.org] Being close to that many people/corporations means that the service MSFT provides should be enhanced in regards to data latency. Maybe they're focusing more on providing real-time data environments.

Re:Why Chicago?

[Billosaur]

San Antonio was no doubt chosen because it is remote, and unlikely to be exposed to a major natural disaster (flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc.). They are probably thinking of diversifying their data centers as much as possible, to guard against them becoming easy targets for physical destruction.

Re:Why Chicago?

[miller60]

While some folks are chasing power and space, many data center builders still follow the business customers. That's why there's been a data center building boom in the Chicago area in the past two years. The biggest driver has been demand from financial companies associated with futures trading in Chicago, which store lots of data and have seen strong growth in high-speed trading. Essentially, companies that can execute program trades faster than their competitor have an advantage. As low latency network technologies have improved, these companies' primary means of gaining a speed advantage is by placing their data center or cages closest to the exchange's systems - which is why this is sometimes known as "proximity trading." This is a strong business for Equinix which just opened a 250,000 square foot center in Chicago.

Hosting companies have also had strong growth in Chicago, which is similar to Dallas in that demand comes from a number of business sectors. Hostway, IDC Global, AT&T, Internap, FastServers and Gigenet have all built or expanded data centers in Chicago in the past two years.

Re:High Tech version of the Cold War?

[Scumbumbo]

With income of just over $14 billion for the fiscal year ended July 2007, Microsoft will make back a $500 million dollar investment in a bit less than two weeks. Compared to most businesses, this investment is a bit like buying new mops for the janitorial staff.

Re:Servers, check! Services, not so check.

[timeOday]

Are all these datacenters just for Microsoft's own use? I agree, I don't see why their online presence, such as it is, would require so many half-billion dollar datacenters.

Re:Why Chicago?

[EmperorKagato]

It would have been better if they actually built a datacenter in Chicago.

• The MTC is at Clark / Lake blue line station downtown Chicago
• Everything south of the loop is cheap as far south as Bronzeville to Hyde Park
• Chicago rarely becomes immobile due to a winter storm: 2006's harsh winter storms brought the suburbs to a halt yet Chicago streets and expressways were drivable
• Chicago is the transportation hub and networking hub of the Midwest

Re:Chicago?

[RetroGeek]

And Windows 95 was nothing like what Chicago was supposed to be.

Microsoft tried to re-write DOS/Win 3.11 into what OS/2 was. The early alpha versions of Chicago showcased this.

Lots of time and dollars later they created a GUI veneer over DOS, called it Windows 95, and then marketed the hell out of it.

Re:Impressive investment, but ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Google uses Linux because it's free. It has little to nothing to do with performance. When you have tens of thousands of servers, the cost of OS support for a company is significant (even compared to the hardware outlay). It doesn't cost Microsoft anything extra to use Windows in their data centers and so can easily match Google in performance, whatever that might be.

Re:Why Chicago?

[EmperorKagato]

Union? where? Like the union that is still protesting at the Hilton for over 5 years?

Re:Why Chicago?

[Obsidian Butterfly]

Yes, the summers are hot, but that's just the summer. The rest of the year enjoys perfect temperatures.

Yes, the summers are hot, but that's just the summer. The rest of the year enjoys randomly variable weather that drives meteorologists mad. FTFY.