Facebook opens third cutting-edge Altoona facility

There’s yet another reason to ‘like’ Altoona, now that Facebook has opened its third data center in our city. With state-of-the-art systems and revolutionary design, this center’s the biggest and best of the three, adding to Altoona’s growing profile of forward-thinking companies. The software giant’s big move is the latest example of how Altoona’s building what’s next. Our business community is growing, and it’s happening now.

Construction was quick, thanks to our experienced local workforce.

“This is the fastest we’ve ever completed a first building at one of our sites,” said Brice Towns, site manager. “We owe a lot of that to the people of Iowa.”

Building the facility was quick, but Facebook’s new data center is anything but simple. Energy-efficient cooling systems, taking advantage of Altoona’s state-of-the-art infrastructure to keep the data storage drives running smoothly.

It’s more than the sum of its parts. Unlike past data centers, the new Altoona-based facility operates as a single, high-performance network. It’s one big, powerful computer, and this streamlined system allows Facebook to increase its network capacity.

All of this next-level design helps Facebook store massive data and run efficiently. So, when you upload pictures of your business’ grand Altoona opening, Facebook can keep track of your many ‘likes.’

The center, located north of Interstate Highway 80 and west of Northeast 56th Street, is part of Facebook’s global information storage system. The Altoona-based facility complements other major centers in Oregon, North Carolina and Sweden. With this big move, Altoona’s developing into part of a powerful global network.

Other tech powerhouses are making Iowa home, too. In addition to Altoona’s $1.5 billion Facebook complex, Microsoft and Google are spending a combined $3.5 billion on Iowa-based facilities. Major businesses see that Altoona is happening, and many are making our community home. With a strong Iowa workforce, strategic location and powerful infrastructure, there’s only question: What will be Altoona’s next big thing?