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Last active February 1, 2017 12:30
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datacenter-money.md

How much is a data center

I will start with the cost of the power to run servers.

Number of servers

I wanted to know how much servers IT giants have. There is no official data on it off cource but some estimates.

As of today (dez/2015) both microsoft and google are leading - MS is 1,020,00 machines and google 750,000. Facebook 2015 is 'undisclosed' but their operation is quite small compared to those million-machine business.

Assuming this numbers are true, let's do a math on how much they need for the power for the servers.

Power

Assumptions:

  • 0.2KVA/server
  • 0.1763/kWh USD in California - they probably have a wholesale price but let's use this for now

Then for a server: 0.2KVA * 24H * 30days * $0.1763/kWh = $25/server/month

  • Microsoft: 102,000 servers => $2.6M
  • Google: 750,000 servers => $18.8M

It is $2.6M and $18.8M. Now you understand the impact!

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