Microsoft To Open $100 Million Iowa Data Centre Next Spring

Microsoft says it is "going forward immediately" with the construction of a new data centre in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The data centre is set to go live in spring 2011.

The governor of West Des Moines, Chet Culver,  announced the $100 million project to develop a modular data centre on Thursday.

Microsoft has promised to employ 25 people from the state, and to pay them an average wage of $30 an hour when the centre opens in spring next year.

Culver said: "This is great news in terms of very good-paying construction jobs to build this $100 million facility. We're also pleased that, when completed, the data center will create 25 good-paying jobs."

The data centre is designed to maximise the utilisation of computing capacity and productivity while minimising the waste water, energy and carbon emissions normally associated with data centres.

Microsoft has scaled down the scope of the project from the $600 million proposal announced in 2008 due to the recent economic crisis.