Demand for Microsoft’s cloud services, such as Office 365, Bing, Skype, Xbox Live, and Windows Azure, has prompted an expansion of the Dublin data centre facility at Grange Castle that serves the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA).
The €170 million investment will bring the existing facility up to 54,255 m2, an increase of 15,700 m2. The work is already underway, and is expected to create 380 construction jobs, and in operation 20 new roles.
Microsoft has said that the EMEA-serving facility will have a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) average of 1.25 during peak usage hours, primarily due to its use of free cooling. The data centre is also 50% more efficient than traditionally built facilities and use only 1% of the water used by other similarly sized data centres in the industry today, according to Microsoft. There is also a stated focus on sustainability, as approximately 99% of all waste at the facility is recycled, including packaging, pallets, crates, and cabling.
The expansion was welcomed by the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore TD.
“We welcome this further commitment from Microsoft, one of the earliest multinational investors in Ireland,” said the Tánaiste. “As a country, we have a strategy to become the Cloud Centre of Excellence and the country of choice for data centre investments. Microsoft contributed greatly to this strategy when it chose Ireland as the home for its first mega data centre outside of the United States. We realised that the factors that influenced that decision were key differentiators that could also attract further investors.”
“We are delighted that Microsoft continues to choose Ireland as a location and welcome the decision to further expand its footprint in Dublin. I’d like to congratulate Microsoft on today’s announcement and thank Cathriona Hallahan and her team for its continued support in positioning Ireland as a location of choice for Cloud Services and the associated infrastructure.”
Speaking from a World Trade Organisation ministerial conference, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD also welcomed the announcement.
“Big data is a sector which offers great potential for Ireland, and which we have targeted as part of our Action Plan for Jobs. In recent years we have seen some major announcements in this sector,” said Minister Bruton. “Today’s announcement that an iconic company like Microsoft is investing €170 million, creating 380 temporary construction jobs and 20 permanent jobs by building a world-leading data centre here is very welcome, and I wish them every success with this project”.
“This expansion is evidence of the continued demand for Microsoft’s cloud services such as Office 365, Bing, Skype, Xbox Live, and the Windows Azure platform across Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” said Cathriona Hallahan, managing director, Microsoft Ireland. “As the demand for these cloud-based services continues to grow we are investing to meet our customers’ needs.
“Not only does this highlight the growth in our cloud services business but it also highlights our continued commitment to investment and innovation in Ireland and Europe. I’d like to thank the Government and the IDA for their continued support and look forward to working with them in the years ahead.”
“Data centres have been a buoyant sector for IDA for the past number of years,” said Barry O’Leary, CEO, IDA, “and Microsoft’s continued investment in the sector will allow Ireland to win further investments worldwide. This investment, by such a well-respected global brand, reinforces Ireland’s credentials as the leading location in cloud computing.’’
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