Google Opens New Dublin Data Center

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Google's Paul Dunne (left) and John Bruton TD, Ireland's Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, inspect the air cooling system at the new Google data center in Dublin. (Photo: Google)

Google today opened its new data center in Dublin, reinforcing that city's status as a pivotal hub for cloud computing services for European markets. Google invested €75 million ($96.7 million US) in the facility, which joins major cloud data centers from Amazon and Microsoft in establishing Dublin as a key transit point for cloud data.

Why is Dublin such a magnet for cloud data centers? The location  is ideal for using outside air to cool the servers (free cooling), eleiminating the need to spend money on power for chillers and other air conditioning systems. Indeed, Google said that

“We build our data centers to exacting standards: they must be able to deliver the lightning fast, highly secure services our users expect," said Dan Costello, Google’s global data centre operations director. "But as a company committed to carbon neutrality, we also make sure that our data centres are extremely efficient in their use of electricity - we use around 50% less energy than a typical data center. The new Dublin data centre, with its highly efficient air-cooling system, continues this trend.”

The data center is part of the company's growing presence in Dublin, where Google Ireland employs more than 2,500 people. Construction of the data center took just under one year to complete, and in total over 1,000 people working for 90 specialist building and engineering companies contributed to the build, with an average of 250 people working on site on any given day. Over 80 percent of the businesses involved were Irish. In total approximately 400,000 man-hours were dedicated to design and construction of the data centre.

Now that it is operational, the data center will provide employment for 30 people in a range of roles including computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers, catering and security staff. Open positions can be found on Google’s jobs website.

“Cloud computing forms a key part of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, and today’s announcement by Google shows clearly what is possible for Ireland in this sector," said Minister Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. "Our technological infrastructure is rapidly improving and cloud computing is one area where our climate gives us advantages. It also shows the extent to which Google, one of the world’s leading companies, is deeply committed to Ireland, with an increasing range of operations located here and over 2,500 people now employed. The Government will build on announcements like this with more ambitious policies to take advantage of this potential and contribute to our recovery."

The new data center in Profile Park, which is fully owned and operated by Google, is in addition to an existing rented facility in Dublin, which is also air-cooled. The rented facility, which is operated by Google staff, will continue to operate as usual.