Richard Bruton, TD, Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, and Paul Dunne, facilities manager at Google's new data centre in west Dublin
A year after announcing its plans to construct a €75m data centre in west Dublin, Google has this morning opened the new centre at Profile Park in Clondalkin.
In all, it took more than 1,000 people working for more than 90 building and engineering companies to carry out the build, which took less than a year.
Google said today the centre will provide employment for 30 people, with roles ranging from computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers to catering and security staff.
The data centre will host computers to run cloud computing services, such as the Google search engine, Gmail and Google Maps. According to Google, it will rank as one of the most energy-efficient data centres in the world. That’s because the centre is taking advantage of Ireland’s climate and is using an air-cooling system that wipes out the need for energy-intensive air-conditioning units.
Google’s global data centre operations director Dan Costello said the company’s data centres use around 50pc less energy than a typical data centre.
“The new Dublin data centre, with its highly efficient air-cooling system, continues this trend,” he said.
After officially opening the new data centre, Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, TD, spoke about how Ireland’s technological infrastructure is improving. He said cloud computing is one area where Ireland’s climate gives it an advantage.
Meanwhile, Google Ireland’s head John Herlihy said the company is expanding its footprint in Ireland as it now employs 2,500 people in Dublin, a figure up from around 2,000 a year ago.
Welcoming the new data centre, IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary spoke about how advancements, such as the new East-West interconnector, which links the power grids of Ireland and Britain, will play a role in continuing to attract data-centre operators to locate in Ireland.
