There are a number of ways to get more data centre space.
One is to be like Google Inc., which is building new data centres in Iowa and other states at a cost of US$600 million each. Another is to lease some space first and then buy it if you like it — and that’s what Microsoft Corp. appears to have done via a deal with Savvis Inc.
St. Louis-based Savvis, which provides hosting and other IT infrastructure services, announced last Friday that Microsoft is paying it about US$200 million to buy two data centres located adjacent to one another in Santa Clara, Calif.
Microsoft currently leases the two facilities under a co-location agreement with Savvis that was scheduled to expire in 2010. The software vendor is the sole user of the data centres, which together have about 250,000 square feet of raised-floor space, according to Savvis.
But Microsoft isn’t just in buy mode when it comes to new data centres. Earlier this year, the company said it would spend about US$550 million to build a data centre in San Antonio that will occupy 44 acres of land and include more than 400,000 square feet of space.