Photo Tour: New Facebook Data Center in Iowa

Earlier this month, Facebook announced the launch of its newest massive data center in Altoona, Iowa, adding a third U.S. site to the list of company-owned data centers and fourth globally.

Companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo design and build what are known as "web-scale" data centers. These are some of the most cutting edge facilities, both in terms of the IT architecture they house and energy efficiency of electrical and mechanical systems that support the hardware. They are also visually stunning.

The company has shared some photos of the new facility, the first one to use a whole new network architecture its engineers designed to run its applications. Here is a look at the new Facebook data center:

Entrance to Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Facebook's Altoona data center - building two. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Building distribution frame room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Building distribution frame room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Building distribution frame room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

A technician at work in a data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

A look down a cold aisle at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Entrance to a hot aisle at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Hot aisles in a data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

A technician at work in a data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

A technician at work in a data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Cafe at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

The game room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Front lobby at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

MDF row in data hall at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Exterior of Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Exterior of Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Exterior of Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Exterior of Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Office area at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Office area at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Air intake room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Filter room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Coil damper room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Coil room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Evaporator room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Fan room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Relief fan room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)

Exhaust room at Facebook's Altoona data center. (Photo: @2014 Jacob Sharp Photography)