There have been periods in which Google seemed to buy or lease a major space at least once a week. Now, although the corporation isn’t fessing up, another huge purchase has taken place that seems to fit its profile.
Chris Sherman made the connection; he writes, “The campus would be ideal for a hybrid data center and workspace for engineers and salespeople. The campus is just four miles from Level 3 Communications, which operates one of the largest communications and internet backbones in the world. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was the CTO of Sun for years.”
Also, “There’s a major regional airport just three miles down the road. The area has a wealth of telecommunications and computer engineering talent (IBM is Boulder county’s largest employer and Qualcomm has an office here). The campus is even located on streets with geeky names (Tape Drive and Disc Drive).”
For our part, if Google’s involved, we’re thinking server farms and data centers are at stake. The property is near Broomfield, Colorado, which would make exterior temperatures and overall heating costs admirably low. It would also, assuming an equal geographic spread was being sought, put it in a good position comparable to facilities in Iowa and the Carolinas.
Finally, in terms of size – 432 acres – this facility would more or less match other data centers and server farms.
It could be a while before anyone finds out one way or another, though – according to Sherman, some almost top-secret precautions have been taken. Still, whether it’s due to an announcement or unavoidable tax documents, we should discover whether the purchase price was around the rumored $60 million, and who (or what) was the buyer.
