Facebook strengthens its infrastructure to support the next one billion users. The company announced on Tuesday that it is building a huge data center in Fort Worth, Texas.
The construction is already in progress and the project will consist of three 23.226 square meters of buildings in an area of 111 acres.
When the new Fort Worth data center is completed in late 2016, it will be 100% powered by 200 megawatts of wind energyand will be cooled using outside air instead of air conditioners.
Ken Patchett, director of the ambitious project Reported in a publication that the data center will help improve the growing global social infrastructure supported by Facebook as well as Internet.org, the social network service, which aims to offer free internet in emerging markets.
The Forth Worth data center will play an important role in Facebook's global ambitions going forward. The social network already has 1.500.000 users. The number is more than half of the number of users of the entire Internet and continues to grow.
Meanwhile, the social network's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that he would like Internet.org to be available σε 100 χώρες μέχρι το τέλος του 2015. Σε χώρες όπως η Ινδία, υπάρχουν βέβαια αντιδράσεις από επικριτές οι οποίοι υποστηρίζουν ότι η πρωτοβουλία παραβιάζει τις αρχές της ουδετερότητας του δικτύου, όπως αναφέρει το Mashable.
The Forth Worth data center will be the fifth Facebook data center (and the fourth in the US). The largest social network currently has facilities in Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina and Sweden.
The social network also announced that it plans to create at least 40 jobs in Fort Worth to help boost the local economy.
