Facebook Revealed As Behind $1.5B "Catapult" Data Center In Iowa

Posted by timothy on Sunday April 21, 2013 @12:00PM from the not-the-drug-flinging-kind dept.

Earlier this month, an article raised the question of who owns the giant data center being built in Altoona, Iowa. Today, the Des Moines Register has an answer, gleaned from "legislative sources." The giant facility, estimated to cost $1.5 billion when construction is complete, is to house a data center for Facebook. The article lists various attributes the site has to make it attractive for all that data, including access to transportation, extensive network infrastructure, and relatively low risk from natural disasters.

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Re:Why is ONE building costing $ 1.5 Billion ? by mederbil · 2013-04-21 13:37 · Score: 4, Informative

Not to mention a data centre requires much more complex engineering for the systems installed inside of it. It has to be able to get a huge amount of electricity and handle that load, it must be properly and efficiently air conditioned. As well it's probably fitted with all kind of precautionary systems such as argon gas fire extinguishing so as to prevent data loss due to fire.