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Power and Cooling Infrastructure

A look at the water storage towers at the Chicago data center site, from a photo in late 2008.

A look at the water storage towers at the Chicago data center site during construction last winter.

With 700,000 square feet of space and the potential to hold as many as 300,000 servers, the Chicago facility requires some industrial strength infrastructure. That includes:

  • 11 diesel generators, each supplying 2.8 megawatts of power
  • 11 electrical substations and power rooms
  • 12 chillers, each with a capacity of 1,260 tons

There's also an extraordinary amount of electric conduit and enormous cooling ducts and water pipes to move the power and cooling throughout the facility.

NEXT: Microsoft Chicago: The Road Ahead

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