Microsoft eyes giant Atlanta data center (Douglas, Lithia Springs: sales, insurance, employment)

[tonygeorgia]

As Microsoft Corp. moves from the desktop and into the cloud, the software behemoth is said to be eyeing metro Atlanta for a data center campus.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft could be seeking about 50 to 60 acres in Lithia Springs, Ga., a data center hotbed, sources said.
Based on the size of the acreage, the potential Microsoft data center could be significant. Consider this: The world’s second-largest data center — located in downtown Atlanta — spans 1 million square feet and has a 20-acre roof.
Data centers, which can be shopping mall-sized, are stacked with computer servers and other hardware ...

[ATLTJL]

Do they employ high level software engineers and programmers, or low level computer techs?

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Do they employ high level software engineers and programmers, or low level computer techs?

Both but, know this, they aren't exactly going to hire legions of personnel. Most data centers do not employ all that many. With cloud-based servers (read: just more manages services just like the last 10 years, nothing new) there will inherently be a need for more higher level techs and support folks but, let's keep it in perspective.

Most data centers (excluding QTS) do not hire more than a dozen or so personnel depending on the size and scope of what they do. The sales force tends to be small. The competition in Atlanta is pretty fierce so there is only so much to go around. Period.

If the Data Center adds a NOCC, then more folks are added to cover the 24X7 nature of what they do. If I had to guess, there are no more than 1300-1500 people total, employed by all the public data centers in Atlanta...add another 1000 or so for the privates....that's probably 80 percent accurate? Give or take....

Data Center folks, what say you? Does that sound right?

Regardless, it is GOOD business as it is fairly stable now that the dot-bomb days are long gone....they tend to grow more organically now based on need......But hey, in this economy all jobs are green....the more, the merrier....you have to wonder about the overall effect though as most of these are viewed as outsourced which, roughly translated means, for every one that is being hired in a data center, 3-5 might be getting laid off at the customer end?

Data Centers by their very nature aggregate the labor...the tech now supports dozens of companies....no longer will you typically find an IT guy/gal sitting on their hands at a company any longer...those CFO's have figured a way to do more, with less and that means IT has/is continuing to take a hit on staffing levels. The savings are too compelling.

[ATLTJL]

All that PLUS you have to work in Lithia Springs?

Sheesh, IT isn't all it's cracked up to be!

[Brian]

Didn't Google have a data center in that area?

[lastminutemom]

Data Centers don't generally offer lots of employment and apparently the Cloud necessitates even fewer employees.

Big corporations though like to have data centers spread out across the country, as I understand it, to be prepared for natural (and I guess non-natural) disasters.

[SW30303]

Yes, data centers have very few employees for the amount of space they take up. As they build these massive centers, there is as much automation as possible to save money, thus fewer people actually work in the buildings managing the servers on the racks.

Caleb, your guess is probably spot on about the number of employees in data centers in this area.

The Atlanta-based Google data center is in Douglas county.

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by SW30303

Yes, data centers have very few employees for the amount of space they take up. As they build these massive centers, there is as much automation as possible to save money, thus fewer people actually work in the buildings managing the servers on the racks.

Caleb, your guess is probably spot on about the number of employees in data centers in this area.

The Atlanta-based Google data center is in Douglas county.

Is it the old Exodus site? Savis? No matter, another reinforced, tilt-wall behemoth...with 30 full time employees Just kidding....like them or not, they are a core infrastructure component for business and an aboslute necessity for businesses and their continuity plans...at least the smart ones.....the truth is they take up less space overall if more companies outsource....don't forget, most companies eliminate their internal data centers to some degree in order to move the servers and other equipment out to the edge.

This tactic helps to ensure the continuity of a business. Think about it, remember the flood in austell a few years ago? Tornados? If your business were really swept away, could you come back? Most small businesses will have to call it quits.....so, what happens to THEIR employees? Gone....just like the business. For the life of me, I am not sure why 75 percent of the businesses do not employ a data center for all their critical data. The buidings are typically way, way more resistant to bad weather, crappy power grids, and telecom infrastructure than what is typically serving them in a typical office park....

But, to get decision makers, who rarely understand the need, to buy THIS kind of insurance is very hard to do. If it ain't broke, don't fix it and all of that....right up to the point when a disaster hits....then it's "prison love" for awhile. The cost for a modest business to put in one rack with some servers is typically under 1K per month, 3 year deal. It's cheap insurance. Besides, try running your business AFTER a disaster (fire, flood, theft, roof leak etc.....etc..).....good luck...helps with those "pesky" compliance issues that medical offices face (you can always see the file drawers open....can you say, HIPPA?)...and yet, you can't get them to budge.

They are a necessary component and will continue to grow along with the virtualization of applications (read: cloud is a buzz word. Things were being virtualized over 10 years ago, the public is just now getting the hang of it). The trend continues and for good reason.

[MathmanMathman]

I was surprised to learn that Amazon is a big player in providing Cloud Computing services.

They just need a few people to keep these data farms running. If a blade server fails, just pull it out and put in a new one. They are hot-swappable.

[arjay57]

One of the big issues with data centers is their massive water use. If Microsoft comes here let's hope they get that under control.

The extraordinary amount of water consumed to cool today’s data centers is poorly understood at best and largely overlooked at worst. And as data centers continue to grow in size and consume more megawatts of power each year, water supplies are being seriously threatened. According to the USGS, 40% of the water used in the United States is for power production followed by the public sector who taps into 12% of the available supply (which includes water used at data centers. What this tells us is that the energy used at data centers has a bigger effect on the national water tables than most every other industry.

As data centers are forecast by the EPA to double their cumulative power and water consumption levels by 2011 and every five years thereafter, the industry faces a legitimate and daunting question: is there enough water supply to support the energy needed for power hungry data centers?

http://www.write-angle.com/wp-conten...50809FINAL.pdf

As data centers get larger, they are getting thirstier as well. The enormous volume of water required to cool high-density cloud computing server farms is making water management a growing priority for data center operators. A 15-megawatt data center can use up to 360,000 gallons of water a day, according to James Hamilton, a data center designer and researcher at Amazon.com.

“Water is tomorrow’s big problem,” Hamilton said. “No one talks about water. The water consumption (in data centers) is super embarrassing. It just doesn’t feel responsible. We need designs that stop using water.”

Data Centers Move to Cut Water Waste » Data Center Knowledge