Facebook has a really, really good reason for choosing Luleå, Sweden as the location for its data centre.

Let me give you a relatable example: Maybe you have a laptop or cellphone that has an issue with overheating. Like most technology, elements are required to keep the machines cool and the bigger the machine is, and the more it works, the more airflow you need.

Imagine how much air conditioning Facebook’s data centre would need if it was in California, especially since it’s housing not only all your photographs but an increasing amount of videos.

So, instead of building the data centre in a location that would require energy-guzzling air conditioners, Facebook built massive fans to pull in the frosty winds of the Arctic Circle.

Yes, indeed.

Mark Zuckerberg has been sharing photographs (on Facebook) of the company’s technology, and the first in the series is a photo essay of the Luleå facility’s design.

They are epic – here’s Zuckerberg’s intro:

Over the next few months, I’m going to start posting some rare photos of the most advanced technology Facebook is building around the world.

We’re starting deep in the forests of northern Sweden with the Luleå data center. It’s a key part of our global infrastructure, and it uses a variety of local natural resources to increase efficiency and save power.

The small town of Luleå is less than 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and it’s typically pretty cold. The temperature in the area is below 50 degrees most days, so we use large fans to pull in the outside air to naturally cool the thousands of warm servers that line the center’s broad hallways. A dozen hydro-electric plants operate on nearby rivers, providing a reliable and renewable power source. The whole system is 10% more efficient and uses almost 40% less power than traditional data centers.

Inside, the main building is the size of six football fields. Nearly all the technology in the facility, from the servers to the power distribution systems, is based on Open Compute Project designs as well.

You probably don’t think about Luleå when you share with friends on Facebook, but it’s an example of the incredibly complex technology infrastructure that keeps the world connected. I’m looking forward to sharing photos of more of our advanced technology soon.

Are you ready? Here they are:

Luleå is a small coastal town just south of the Arctic Circle, and near the top of the world. It’s surrounded by dense forests and icy rivers.

The main data hall is so big that engineers move around on scooters.

I love this shot because it looks like a sci-fi movie. These enormous fans draw in the outside air to cool the tens of thousands of servers in the data hall. In the winter, when temperatures plunge to -30 degrees the situation is reversed, and the heat from the servers warm the massive buildings.

About 150 people work here, but the data halls are frequently empty. Because of the simplified design, we need only one technician for every 25,000 servers.

The equipment is reduced to its basics so it runs cooler. It can also be easily accessed and repaired quickly. A few years ago, it took an hour to repair a server hard drive. At Luleå, that’s down to two minutes.

Old and obsolete hard drives are crunched, forever protecting privacy. Christer Jonsson is in charge of this important task. “I must be very careful,” he says.

Pop over HERE to check out the rest of the album, which includes artistic photographs of the architecture as well as people on the team.

It’s pretty sweet, I won’t lie, just a little bit isolated for my liking.

[source:techcrunch]