Alba 1: Massive Scottish Data Center
Posted by Elizabeth English on Fri, Aug 07, 2009 @ 05:00 PM
Rumors about what is set to become the largest data center in the world, the planned Alba 1 facility in Scotland, have been afoot for a while.
The data center will provide about 3 million square feet of space for hosting, which is more than any other similar facility already in existence. Scotland, full of wide open spaces and equipped with many competent workers, is seeing a lot of data center construction. They're keeping it green, too - exploring sources of power like ocean water and wind farms. Alba 1 is set to use wind farms for power. While some people are concerned that such large facilities are harmful to the picturesque quality of the Scottish countryside, these concerns do not seem to be doing a lot to halt construction. It's rumored that Alba 1 would increase internet speed, perhaps significantly, in the UK by providing a more even distribution of stored data.
Although the construction will cost about 1 billion British pounds, which is close to $2 billion USD, Internet Villages International has already raised 600 million pounds of that total from anonymous supporters of the project. With any luck the facility will open in 2010, providing lots of jobs along the way.
For more information, check out The Guardian's article, £1bn data centre in Scotland could be world's biggest.
-Elizabeth English