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Facebook Chooses Singapore For $1 Billion Data Center (bbc.co.uk)

Posted by BeauHD on from the home-sweet-home dept.

Facebook is planning to open a new data center in Singapore in 2022. The more than $1 billion facility will be located in the west of the country, according to the BBC. From the report: It has been designed as an 11-floor structure, in an attempt to conserve space in the crowded nation, according to Facebook. One analyst told the BBC it was another sign of the country's popularity with large technology companies. The new, 170,000-sq-m (1.8-million-sq-ft) data centre will support "hundreds" of local jobs. Facebook said it expected the building to be powered by 100% renewable energy and noted that it would feature a liquid cooling system that minimized water and power use.

72 comments

  1. $1 billion data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Hundreds" of jobs

    Sounds like a huge strain on Singapore's infrastructure for little return .

    1. Re:$1 billion data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      No, not really - Singapore is more powerful than Russia economically and with modern infrastructure. There's a reason it is the center of the shipbuilding industry, and that reason is much more than simple geography.

    2. Re:$1 billion data center by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 0

      Sounds like a huge strain on Singapore's infrastructure for little return .

      Datacenters pull steady power 24/7, with little reactance and good power factor. They don't put much undo strain on infrastructure.

      Their switching power supplies have negative resistance, but as long as the provider is aware, that is not a problem. If the current is too high, they need to increase the voltage, rather than decrease as they would for a traditional resistive load following Ohm's Law.

  2. Trump needs to tariff all data... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...coming from Singapore. 15% tariff on all FB likes, 29% tariff on all food selfies.

    1. Re:Trump needs to tariff all data... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In order to apply a tariff a trade must have value.

    2. Re: Trump needs to tariff all data... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thatsthejoke.jpeg

  3. WWW still expanding... by The+New+Guy+2.0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're still building new datacenters nearly everywhere there's bandwidth. Will this be 100% used by FB, or will this be the start of an FB cloud hosting to rival AWS?

    1. Re:WWW still expanding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Facebook is consolidating it's servers out of it's existing Singapore datacenter leases. It's not building tonnes more capacity than it already has.

      Singapore is attractive because it has low latency, redundant/competitive, submarine cable connections to every nation in the region.

    2. Re:WWW still expanding... by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      That would be for Asia. Lag would be too high for the US and Europe.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    3. Re:WWW still expanding... by The+New+Guy+2.0 · · Score: 1

      Yep... but currently FB lags in Asia contacting the USA.

  4. A CANING GOOD IDEA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Whip that boy in street, with some cane! Sweet, sweet smacks of blood!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    1. Re:A CANING GOOD IDEA! by rogoshen1 · · Score: 2

      yeah but i bet that little bastard never did it again.

    2. Re:A CANING GOOD IDEA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Caning is faggot shit. I'll take a cane over prison any day, fuck you.

    3. Re:A CANING GOOD IDEA! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      yeah but i bet that little bastard never did it again.

      He left Singapore right after his caning, so he never faced the possibility of another caning.

      Michael P. Fay

      He was later arrested on drug and alcohol offenses in Florida.

    4. Re:A CANING GOOD IDEA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. That's why PRISON is so effective. Notice I didn't mention TRUMP and PRISON in the same sentence.

      -

      Terminal cancer is even more effective, and when it comes for you, the world will be a better place.

      I voted for Trump and I fucking LOVE it when pussies like you whine about it. And I am voting for him again. Suck on that, you worthless whining little bitch.

  5. And death for using guns in a crime even partners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://www.loc.gov/law/help/firearms-control/singapore.php

    So caning is the lesser punishment.

  6. Gee, NOT in the USA? by p51d007 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Home of Facebook, Zucker said screw that, I can do it MUCH cheaper in Singapore and get a FATTER return on my money.

    1. Re:Gee, NOT in the USA? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2

      Home of Facebook, Zucker said screw that, I can do it MUCH cheaper in Singapore and get a FATTER return on my money.

      . . . until Trump announces a tax on data stored outside the USA on Tuesday . . .

      It's not, "There's an app for that!" any more . . . it's "There's a tariff or tax for that!"

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    2. Re:Gee, NOT in the USA? by catsRus · · Score: 1

      They are building one in Los Lunas, New Mexico, USA, right now. It's not as big but it is a good sized data center.

  7. Odd location by Archfeld · · Score: 1

    I'd think they would look for a inland location that wasn't on the ring of fire earthquake zone, have nearby volcanoes, AND subject to frequent hurricanes (typhoons?). I've never been there but is the power infrastructure of great stability ?

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Odd location by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Power stability ???
      Much better than US or Canada I would say

    2. Re:Odd location by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Singapore definitely isn't subject to frequent typhoons. Its proximity to the equator actually makes typhoons extremely unlikely. The earthquake risk is relatively low because Singapore isn't located on a plate boundary. Studies have shown the tsunami risk is also relatively low. Volcanic ash from nearby volcano eruptions could cause air travel issues for Singapore, but the direct risk is very low.

    3. Re:Odd location by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      Based on what information ? Not that I am trying to call you out but I'm genuinely interested. I'm in the western US and we've had maybe 4 hours of outage in the last 5 years and that was because of a flash flood that hit the local substation. We have redundant delivery systems to until you get to that last mile location and then we are isolated but mainly because we live out in the boondocks 30 miles or so from anything resembling a city.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    4. Re:Odd location by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's not a bad location really. While Singapore is technically in the ring of fire, it's not close to any volcanoes itself. It also doesn't get a lot of typhoons compared to other parts of the region. Outside of those worries it has a lot of upsides. Geographically it's really close to around 50% of the world's population, the infrastructure is good, and it's unlikely that Facebook will run into any political issues as Singapore is pretty business friendly.

    5. Re:Odd location by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Typhoons form in the tropics and gain strength as they move away from the equator. Since Singapore is nearly right on the equator, typhoons are a non-issue.

      A hurricane and a typhoon are two words for the same thing, depending on location. They are called hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific. They are called typhoons in the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

      Tsunamis only go a few hundred meters inland.

      Singapore is a 1st World country, with a per capita GDP of $58k, nearly identical to America. Their electricity infrastructure is rock solid.

      I have been there several times. Beautiful city ... err ... country, very friendly people that all speak English, and lots of rules.

    6. Re:Odd location by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Distance. Less ping to Asia.
      Low cost power.
      Lots of submarine cable networks.
      Skilled staff.
      Political stability.
      Legal system.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    7. Re:Odd location by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Singapore is not the USA. Singapore invested in early networks and digital systems well before many other cities.
      A number of submarine cable networks pass via Singapore. That digital network history shows the power stays on and the networks stay working.
      The ping is also low to the res of Asia. Location and every ms of ping counts.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    8. Re:Odd location by RhettLivingston · · Score: 1

      If they are building a data center in Singapore, it is because they have a need for the computing power in that region.

      Data obeys the speed of light. It would take at least 45 milliseconds for data to travel from Singapore to San Francisco assuming the fiber is routed absolutely straight. That's too long to allow reasonable response times given everything else involved in creating responses. Data centers must be regionally based to provide decent response times.

    9. Re:Odd location by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      4 hours without power in the last 5 years?

      That actually sounds like a lot to me. I was going to tell an anecdote about how my power almost never goes out and when it does it's only for a split second, but that got me wondering what is average for Americans. I have no idea.

      And I suspect most outages are weather related. It does seem a fair question to ask about the risk of volcanoes, typhoons, flooding and earthquakes.

      They'll probably be okay.

      I'd be a great CIO. "We'll probably be okay building our data centers in Singapore."

      "....probably be okay..." doesn't exactly inspire much confidence but presumably FB has looked at this harder than me.

    10. Re: Odd location by kenh · · Score: 1

      Power outages?

      You understand that a nearly two million square foot data center will likely have a huge bank of batteries and a phalanx of generators to keep the data center humming along 24x7 until it is shutdown, right?

      --
      Ken
    11. Re: Odd location by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      I worked in a high availability DC with UPS and numerous generators to maximize uptime. The problem or weak spot in relying on generators is fuel. We kept the max we were allowed which amounted to about 7 days. Easily remedied if the underlying structure is uncompromised. From the replies I've received here I understand that Singapore's is pretty solid.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  8. sea water by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Aren't rising oceans threatening Singapore?

    1. Re:sea water by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      not really - they're already preparing

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  9. No tariffs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good thing there are no tariffs on importing data

    1. Re: No tariffs by kenh · · Score: 1

      Yet.

      --
      Ken
  10. make sense.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the country is like a crossroads of the internet between north america and oceania/asia.... perfect place to set up a spy^H^H^Hserver operation.

  11. Will fakebook be around? by Bodhammer · · Score: 2

    Will fakebook be around in 2022? Seriously.
    https://bgr.com/2018/09/05/del...

    --
    "I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
    1. Re:Will fakebook be around? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Will fakebook be around in 2022? Seriously.

      https://bgr.com/2018/09/05/del...

      Unless narcissism and mass stupidity suddenly become extinct, yes it will be around.

  12. A one billion dollar data center by rsilvergun · · Score: 1, Interesting

    and it's going to support "hundreds" of jobs? And I wouldn't be surprised to find out some of those jobs are in building the thing....

    So anyway we're heading for a post-work world folks. Or at the very least another industrial revolution. And the last few times that happened there were decades of unemployment & social strife until either tech caught up or, more likely, we had a big enough war that everything blew up and had to be rebuilt.

    Anyway, We gonna do anything about it?

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:A one billion dollar data center by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and it's going to support "hundreds" of jobs? And I wouldn't be surprised to find out some of those jobs are in building the thing....

      Uh, don't be surprised. I'm certain 90% of the "hundreds" of jobs are nothing more than building the thing.

      So anyway we're heading for a post-work world folks. Or at the very least another industrial revolution. And the last few times that happened there were decades of unemployment & social strife until either tech caught up or, more likely, we had a big enough war that everything blew up and had to be rebuilt.

      Anyway, We gonna do anything about it?

      The kids are doing something about it. They're demanding less than 40 hours a week because they do believe in this work/life balance thing. They're chasing after their dreams early in life because looking at the cancer/diabetes/dementia-riddled elderly generation of inept humans, they realize there's no point in waiting for this thing we used to call "retirement" to fulfill their wanderlust, hence the crowdsourcing campaigns to fund the global travels of twentysomething hippie vloggers. No, they don't have any savings to speak of, but that's just another step in the acceptance of a lifetime of welfare.

      Oh sorry, "welfare" is NOT politically correct or socially acceptable now...the kids like to call it "UBI" instead. Gives the status of unemployable a better feel for the snowflake who needs it.

    2. Re: A one billion dollar data center by kenh · · Score: 1

      I can't even begin to imagine the number of workers required to 'rack and stack' the countless hundreds of thousands of servers in the facility...

      --
      Ken
  13. Re:And death for using guns in a crime even partne by hey! · · Score: 2

    Caning is certainly more humane than prison. It just strikes us as barbaric because we're used to the barbarities of prison.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  14. And the real reason is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and the real reason to pick a location outside of the U.S. is to be able to gather all information they want with no reprisal from the U.S. as there will be no possibility of legal actions.

    I'm glad that I won't be alive in 50 years as most people will be enslaved by dictator corporations that are puppets to China and Russia. lol

    1. Re:And the real reason is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rather this is to escape the draconian US government being created by traitorous republicans that have control of the entire system.

    2. Re: And the real reason is... by kenh · · Score: 1

      Riiiiiight. FB is building it's 11 story (space-saving!) 1.8 million squarefoot data center overseas because they can't imagine Democrats ever taking control of the government.

      What is it like in your world, where every decision is based on the actions (or feared actions) of Donald J. Trump? Trump's got about 6 more years in office, the house will likely flip in a few months, and the senate will likely remain under republican control long enough to confirm RBG's replacement - likely a 32 year-old lawyer with no meaningful history to examine (in the Kagen, Sotomayor tradition).

      --
      Ken
  15. Re:Outlier: Islam by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Zuck and his family will have to convert to Islam

    Singapore is about 15% muslim.

  16. Assassinate Vladimir Putin today! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kill the Satanic monster now!

  17. Singapore by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    Good choice, laa...

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    1. Re:Singapore by cciRRus · · Score: 1

      You meant "Good choice lah!" :-)

      --
      w00t
    2. Re:Singapore by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Either "lah or laa", laa.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    3. Re:Singapore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad choice.
      Malaysia has sand , cement oil, power and water, cheaper. JB would give the best of both.
      I suspect data privacy has a lot to do with it, plus it is easy to launder and avoid tax in Singapore - a 5-10 year tax holiday or as bargained. And the subsidised land.
      Singapore lost a lost to Malaysia with respect to parcel/post hub.
      Maybe bulk storage can be moved to JB with the value added bit in .sg.

  18. Re:And death for using guns in a crime even partne by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These guys get caning and prison tho. Each stroke of the cane strips away skin and causes deep tissue damage that can cause long term physical issues. Still think its not barbaric?

  19. On saving space? by chrism238 · · Score: 1
    > "It has been designed as an 11-floor structure, in an attempt to conserve space in the crowded nation, according to Facebook"

    Wow. Someone from Facebook should actually visit Singapore, and observe that it's big enough for, maybe, a 12 or even 13 floor structure. What a nonsense statement.

    1. Re:On saving space? by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      yeah, it was poorly worded - i think what they meant to say was it was not a sprawling one story farm...

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  20. Low-cost power? by cciRRus · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure about that. We don't have renewable energy sources (no dams, wind turbines, or solar plants), we don't have fossil fuels (no crude oil, gas, or coal), and no nuclear power stations too.

    --
    w00t
    1. Re:Low-cost power? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Years of new submarine cable networks would not land in any nation that did not support the networking needed.
      LNG and many other new power projects has Singapore offering a lot of capacity for power.
      Electrical power and its cost, capacity is not an issue for Singapore.
      Thats all part of what makes Singapore so great for investment. Lots of electrical power at a good price.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  21. Re: And death for using guns in a crime even partn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not sure it matters when the results speak for themselves. Why do the rights of criminals trump the rights of everybody else for a safe crime free environment? Maybe it could be safe without caning, but at worst it doesn't seem to create criminals as the prison system can

  22. Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Love having our personal information stored overseas. Yeehaw! FB commitment to the American economy by putting the jobs overseas. Way to go! More more Sucker Zucker!

    1. Re:Great! by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      if i'm not mistaken there's more fb users outside the us then there ere are us citizens...

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
  23. ioitsol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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    we deliver your Product PACKAGING an Labeling ORDER SUPER FAST and SUPER QUALITY. You can count on us and you will never regret about your design reach out today get yours design for only $5.

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  24. Singapore?! Eduardo Saverin.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Facebook thumbing a nose at one of its co-founders?!

  25. Singapore, I choose you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I believe there are better titles than the current one... it just reminds me of some stupid game.

  26. Re: And death for using guns in a crime even partn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Singaporean government's emphasis is on integration and harmony rather than the ethnic division and class strife through increased wealth divide that the US government under Trump emphasizes.

  27. Just one? by MJhasHIV · · Score: 0

    Interesting...

  28. Or maybe... by kenh · · Score: 1

    It has been designed as an 11-floor structure, in an attempt to conserve space in the crowded nation, according to Facebook.

    Or maybe a 1.8 million square foot data center on one floor is an insane idea?

    --
    Ken
  29. Re:Outlier: Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean 85% islam shirley?

    * checks wikipedia *

    they say 87%...

  30. Re:Outlier: Islam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    wikipedia is bullshit and wrong by default