Microsoft Corp Unveils A New Computer Lab

InfoGrok, a leading technology industry analysis website is reporting that Microsoft is building Redmond Ridge 1, a new computer lab several miles from the Redmond campus and hopes to shift more than just servers there.

According to the Chief Environmental Strategist at Microsoft Corp, the new facility aims to consolidate computer labs from the company’s main campus and house servers used for development/testing. When loaded to full capacity, it will reduce both Microsoft’s operational energy use and costs and will help deliver an estimated carbon savings of 12,000 metric tons per year.

Mr Bernard said: “The opening of Redmond Ridge is a major milestone and represents a real transition point in the company’s overall culture. The facility is a great example of how tech can help improve the energy efficiency.”

The building, which opened in July 2009 but won’t be fully operational until April 2010, will achieve the energy savings thanks in large part to a state-of-the-art cooling design – evaporative coolers and basic physics cool the facility rather than traditional chillers. Air handlers bring outside air into each enclosed sections of servers and let convection do the work. The evaporative cooling system kicks in only when the temperature spikes above 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

The cooling design, along with other techniques such as dynamic power management, means that servers in the facility will require a third less energy than if they were placed in traditional office buildings, says Jim Osborne, product manager for managed lab services at Microsoft.

The technology news site goes on to state that Microsoft anticipates more product groups will follow suit and adopt a remote development model, though Osborne says not all of the company’s 600 labs worldwide will do so. The continuing shift toward remote development should help Microsoft with its stated goal of reducing its carbon footprint by a staggering 30% by 2012, said Mr. Bernard.