Facebook Unwraps Plans For New Data Center In Iowa

As rumored earlier, Facebook has taken off the wraps of a new data center that will begin construction this summer in Altoona, Iowa. This will be the social network's fourth self-owned and operated data center. The company already has data centers in Prineville, Oregon; Forest City, North Carolina; and Luleå, Sweden.

The new data center will feature the same Open Compute Project server designs and outdoor-air cooling system that the other Facebook data centers boast, but the new center will also include overall improvements to the building's design and networking architecture than the other data facilities. Facebook claims that the new Iowa facility "will be among the most advanced and energy efficient facilities of its kind."

As far as why Facebook chose Iowa to plop down a new data center in, the social networking giant said that the state is full of wind-generated power, and has "a great talent pool that will help build and operate the facility." Of course, there's also plenty of flat and open land there, making it ideal for a large facility that relies on outdoor air for cooling

The company didn't reveal any statistics on the new facility, but the Des Moines Register reports that the new data center will cost $1.5 billion to construct. There's no official say as to how large this new data center will be, but the Des Moines Register says that the facility will be 1.4 million square feet. Facebook's one billion users are uploading a lot of content to the social network, and it all has to go somewhere.