Strong Data Center Growth in Japan

Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp will spend $350 million (40 billion yen) on a new data center in southwestern Japan, Reuters reports. The data center will eventually house more than 100,000 servers and have an area of 140,000 square meters, or about 1.5 million square feet. According to Reuters, that would make the data center roughly the size of three Tokyo Dome stadiums. Early phases will be more modest, about 38,000 square feet. Softbank plans to begin operations at a facility at the data centre in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in October 2008.

Electronics conglomerates Fujitsu Ltd and Hitachi Ltd are also investing in data centers to tap growing demand for outsourcing of IT management and maintenance, according to the Nikkei business daily. Equinix is also building additional data center space in Tokyo, which is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2008.