Microsoft Data Centers Blog

Operating and maintaining the infrastructure behind Microsoft’s huge cloud is a mission critical endeavor. With over 200 cloud services, including Bing, Office 365, Skype, SkyDrive, Xbox Live, and the Windows Azure platform running in our data centers, the Global Foundation Services’ (GFS) team is a key component in delivering the highly available experience our customers expect from the cloud. To do this effectively, we’re continuously evolving our operational strategies to drive quality and efficiency up while lowering costs and increasing overall value to our customers. Read More >>

Microsoft has again been honored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its investment in sustainable power, as discussed on a new Software Enabled Earth blog post this week. Adding to our previous recognition as a top green power purchaser by the EPA, Microsoft was recently named as one of four organizations nationwide to receive the EPA’s Green Power Partner of the Year award. Read More >>

Microsoft recognizes the tough challenges that data center and IT managers face today as they struggle to support their businesses in the face of rising costs and uncertainty about the future. But the fact is – being “lean and green” is good for both the business and the environment. Read More >>

Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services (GFS) organization delivers the global infrastructure and network for over 200 consumer and enterprise cloud services. The security, privacy and reliability expectations of the customers served by these services must be met in order to develop the level of trust necessary to support a global shift to online and cloud computing. Each of Microsoft’s online and cloud services focus on its respective customer requirements and GFS must meet the obligations that come from all of the more than 200 services because they all reside in the GFS infrastructure. While many of the capabilities must be provided at the service layer, all services have at least some level of dependency on the cloud infrastructure built, managed, and secured by GFS. Read More >>

Data center operators are touting metrics like PUE to demonstrate energy efficiency leadership, but there is more to consider. Data centers exist because they can more efficiently and economically scale to house servers that host online services used by enterprises and consumers. However, we need a more holistic approach to ensure that we are minimizing the energy consumed to run these services. Performance matters, but so does the energy consumed to deliver that performance. During my past 40 years as a computer architect, I have seen processor power grow faster than processor performance. Read More >>