What to Read at DCK: Week of August 28th

Microsoft Picks Virginia for Major Data Center - Microsoft has selected a site near Boydton, Virginia for a major new data center project, with plans to invest up to $499 million in the rural community in the southern part of the state. The company plans to build a cutting-edge data center that will serve as the East Coast hub for Microsoft’s online services.

HP Tops Dell, Raises 3PAR Bid to $2 Billion - The takeover battle for storage vendor 3PAR has kicked into high gear, with Dell and HP trading higher and higher offers. On Friday afternoon HP again boosted its bid to $30 a share, or $2 billion. Will Dell respond?

Drunken Employee Shoots Up A Server - Police in Salt Lake City say an employee of a mortgage company opened fire on a $100,000 server with a .45 caliber automatic, and then concocted a cover story that his gun had been stolen and used to shoot up the IT equipment.

Colocation Company Will Submerge Servers - Austin-based Midas Networks will soon offer colocation customers the opportunity to submerge their servers in a liquid cooling enclosure. Midas is the first hosting customer for Green Revolution Cooling, an Austin startup that says its approach allows users to operate servers without a raised floor, air conditioning units or chillers.

Feds Prep Buying Guide for Modular Data Centers - In another sign of the momentum for modular data center designs, the federal government is developing a guide to help agencies choose among the growing number of container-based offerings.

Servers Slow Down as Data Center Heats Up - Purdue University has developed software that can slow server activity as temperature rises. This technique recently allowed Purdue’s data center to continue operating during several cooling outages, throttling down server activity to prevent the room from overheating.