Microsoft to open new data centers in Quincy and the Netherlands

A recent report from The Seattle Times stated that Microsoft is almost at the end of a deal to buy 200 acres of land in Quincy, Washington for $11 million, which will create 100 full-time jobs. While it already has a 75 acre data center in Quincy that was set up in 2007, Microsoft is looking to open up the biggest data center in the Port of Quincy, as its cloud technology is only expanding.

The reason why Microsoft, and other companies who already have their own data centers in the Port of Quincy, like Yahoo, Dell, Sabey, Vantage, and Inuit, is because of the low electricity costs and the fast internet connection that fiber-optic internet provider Level 3 has been investing in.

However, the deal is not done yet. Although the city of Quincy and Microsoft have been working for this deal for nearly a year, both parties from Microsoft and the city expect to close the deal in late January. “Construction on the new site will begin in the spring, with the first phase completed by early 2015,” a Microsoft spokesperson says.

The Port of Quincy says in a press release, “Microsoft will pay $3,985,500 for 60 acres the port already owns. The port is purchasing 142 adjacent acres from (a private owner) for $6,630,900. It then will sell that property to Microsoft for $7,058,700, according to the purchase-and-sale agreement, which commissioners and Microsoft representatives have signed.”

On the other hand, a report from DutchNews via Neowin states that both Apple and Microsoft are considering setting up multi-million euro data centers in the Netherlands. While Microsoft already has a data center dedicated to Windows Azure services in Amsterdam, the company is planning on building its new data center in the Noord-Holland province where it will cost Microsoft 2 billion euros.