Microsoft Data Centers Blog

Last November we announced our zero carbon Data Plant R&D project in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For a quick refresher, we’re placing a small container data center we call an IT Pre-Assembled Component, or ITPAC, at a wastewater treatment facility in Cheyenne. A natural bi-product of a wastewater plant is methane gas, which is typically flared off because it’s uneconomical to recover and convert to grid energy. At our Data Plant, we view this methane gas as an opportunity to provide a reliable power source to power a data center, and we decided to launch this project to test the concept and the capabilities. Read More >>

Earth Day is Monday, April 22, providing a moment to reflect on the daily work we are doing to drive greater environmental sustainability at Microsoft and for our customers, partners, and the industry. While Earth Day is only a single day, sustainability is a year-round effort for my Data Center Advanced Development team, as well as our extended teams from Global Foundation Services, Environmental Sustainability, Microsoft Research, and all our cloud services groups. Read More >>

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 >>

When most people think about data centers, and their main ingredients, they typically assume electricity and fiber are the primary components. Granted these are high on the list, but water is also a traditionally essential component particularly when outside temperatures are high. Read More >>

Microsoft is excited to announce its research and development of the first zero carbon data center – called the Data Plant – that will be completely independent of the grid and will recycle common waste bi-products to sustainably power cloud services. Microsoft has been committed to developing more efficient and sustainable data center infrastructures that support our customers’ growing demand for online services since 1994. Read More >>