An inside look at America’s largest data centers (infographic)

In our increasingly connected world of cloud-powered information, it’s easy to forget that there are enormous facilities around the U.S. that store all this data.

For instance, it takes 11 diesel generators to power Microsoft’s 700,000-square foot data center in Chicago, which stores data for XBox Live, the company’s Bing search engine, its email service Hotmail and over 200 other sites. The QTS Metro data center in Atlanta, Georgia — which stores data for Twitter’s 100 million active users — takes 19 diesel generators.

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Also interesting is the durability of some of these giant facilities to withstand whatever mother nature throws at them. For example, the NAP of The Americas data center features 7-inch thick steel-reinforced concrete panels to keep severs safe in the event of extremely bad weather. The facility was built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

For a more detailed look at five of the largest data centers in America, check out the infographic embedded below.

[Infographic courtesy of Wikibon]