Google is shelling out a handsome amount yet again to build on a new data center in Hong Kong. It was noted that the search engine giant would pump in $300 million with thoughts to keep the data center in running by 2013 as it would beef up infrastructure to keep pace with rapidly rising Asian Internet use.
On Thursday, Google broke ground for the facility. The company even noted that they are planning to come up with data centers in Singapore and Taiwan too.
Google already has six data centers in U.S. and two in Europe, but these three coming up, will be the company’s first data centers in Asia.
Talking about the cost, the worthy investment would include land, construction and technical equipment.
Google, in September had said that they had plans to pump in at least $100 million each on the Hong Kong and Taiwan centers. It seems the estimates have changed in a span to these two months. Additionally, Singapore has been added to the data center list.
Google noted that this extension to its data center count, has been designed to increase user access speed for the company’s various products in Asia.
Noting the area, the data center would occupy in Hong Kong, it was recorded that the facility is measuring about 300,000 square feet in the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Kowloon. As noted earlier, it would not be fully operational until early 2013.
For the commitment, the search engine giant has said that it would employ staff for the data center, with the facility with 25 full-time local workers, including electrical and mechanical engineers, computer technicians, security and catering staff.
Google even released a statement addressing the new focus on China. Its post in a blog noted, “Building this data center in Hong Kong is an exciting step for us. More new Internet users are coming online every day here in Asia than anywhere else in the world… At a long-term investment cost reaching $300 million, this data center will be one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly in Asia, built to the same high standard we use around the world.”
It would be important from Google’s point of view to succeed in this step, to explore its potentials in the mainland of China. Google and China have never been together, as the case has been same for a number of U.S. based companies.
Noting the problematic areas between China and Hong Kong, it can be said that even though now Hong Kong is technically reunified with China, it will still operates under more relaxed conditions than its mainland counterparts. Basically, it is a dynamic that Google has come to understand and will likely continue to try to leverage to its advantage in the region.
A brief about data center can be noted as, ‘Data centers are secure facilities packed with thousands of computers that store and serve vast amounts of information.’ As one of the biggest giants in the tech world, Google will definitely need more of these data centers in the times to come.