Twitter to open Utah data center later this year

To help keep up with ever-increasing traffic, Twitter is set to open up a new custom-built data center in Utah later this year. Considering 300,000 new Twitter users log on every day, the site desperately needs to expand its capacity.

The data center is being built especially for Twitter’s needs. The site currently leases data center space for third-parties. The new configuration will give the company more control and better performance. Jean-Paul Cozzatti of Twitter stated:

Having dedicated data centers will give us more capacity to accommodate this growth in users and activity on Twitter.Twitter will have full control over network and systems configuration, with a much larger footprint in a building designed specifically around our unique power and cooling needs. The data center will house a mixed-vendor environment for servers running open source OS and applications.

Other social networking sites like Facebook are also in the process of expanding.

Source | Tech Crunch
Photo | Flickr

Utah uses IP addresses to improve website users' experience

Lately all the talk about IP addresses around here has dealt with IPv4 depletion. As the number of addresses available shrinks daily, the State of Utah is putting the IP system to good use.

Using a technology known as GeoIP, the state is able to customize its website based on the user’s location, providing the most relevant content and links possible. The system works by reading a visitor’s IP address and then syncing it with a geodatabase.

Dave Fletcher, Chief Technology Officer of Utah, said:

We wanted to localize the services and information so they would mean more to the citizens. The Geo IP enabled us to determine what public meetings and services would apply to citizens using the site.” Some of those customized links include data for local, parks, libraries and schools.

This system is great because it gives visitors only the content they need. An individual in one county might be more interested in an article about a new ordinance, for example, while someone on the other side of the state unaffected by the new legislation might prefer to read about things related to his town.

Source | Government Technology

NSA to build £978 million data center

The National Security Administration has announced plans to build a new data center up to 1-million square feet in size in Fort Williams, Utah. The total cost of the project will be £978 million ($1.6 billion USD).

The megalopolis will be built in two phases. The first, which is set to begin construction in June of next year, is expected to boast 35 megawatts of power. Another 35 megawatts will be added in 2013 to complete the project.

A government agency responsible for intercepting and analyzing communications both foreign and domestic, the NSA isn’t likely to tell us what their plans for the facility are. The new data center is long overdue, however, as their current setup in Maryland reached its power limit years ago.

The NSA isn’t the only one looking to set up shop in Utah. Last year, Oracle announced intentions to build a £180 million ($334 million USD) data center in Utah, while eBay said it would also invest £204 million ($285 million USD) for a facility in the state.

Source | Data Center Knowledge

Photo | Flickr