Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton officially opened Google’s new €75 million data centre in Dublin’s Profile today.
The new data centre – which houses computers that run cloud services such as search, Gmail and Google Maps – uses an air-cooling system to keep its computers running smoothly, taking advantage of Ireland’s naturally cool climate. As a result, the centre does not require costly and power-hungry air-conditioning units, which are still used in many traditional data centres. This enables Google to reduce significantly its energy requirements and helps maintain its global status as a carbon-neutral company.
Construction of the data centre took just under one year to complete, and employed over 1,000 people working for over 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% of the businesses involved were Irish.
The data centre will provide employment for 30 people from computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers to catering and security staff.
Speaking at the event, Minister Bruton said: "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."
John Herlihy, head of Google in Ireland, said: "Our new data centre is a key long-term investment for us and further strengthens our ties with the city and the country."
Dan Costello, Google’s global data centre operations director, added: "We build our data centers to exacting standards. They must be able to deliver the lightning fast, highly secure services our users expect. 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 centre. The new Dublin data centre, with its highly efficient air-cooling system, continues this trend."
Open positions can be found on Google’s jobs website.
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