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Posted on July 31, 2014 at 4:56 PM by Melissa Horton

A Warm Welcome To Our New Neighborhood

By Brice Towns, Altoona Data Center Manager, Facebook

 

Thanks to the Altoona Chamber of Commerce for letting us write a guest blog post for Listen Up Altoona. Here’s an update on our construction process and a little insight into the view of our new neighborhood.

 

One year ago, we kicked off the construction process of our data center campus in Altoona. Since then, the view around Building One has changed significantly, from concrete mixer trucks, cranes, and heavy construction equipment moving earth, to a nearly-complete building with networking equipment and servers being delivered and installed. And even though we’re not done with Building One yet, we recently announced we’re starting the process all over again and have broken ground for our second data hall in Altoona!

 

And it’s quite a process. To give you an idea of the scope of the buildings and campus, here are a few fun facts:

  • The Facebook Altoona campus is 202 acres, which is 22 acres bigger than Adventureland.
  • Building One is just over 470,000 square feet and is longer than four football fields.
  • You could fit over 160 Olympic-size swimming pools inside or fill it with 6.4 billion Ping-Pong balls.
  • When the building is completed we will have installed over 20,000 miles of fiber optic cable inside the building.

 

We’ve covered a lot of ground in just over a year in Altoona. All along the way, our team has been welcomed to Altoona and Iowa. In the grocery store, at the gas station, at community events – if we have a Facebook t-shirt on, we hear “Do you work at Facebook? That’s so cool!”

 

Many of our employees are Iowa natives and some have moved here from other places. And all are excited about the growth happening in Altoona including new small businesses, existing companies that are expanding, as well as more entertainment, dining and retail options.

 

Our goal is to bring Building One online in late 2014 or early 2015 and as we work toward that goal, you’ll see Facebook become more present in the community. In fact, I will be speaking at the Altoona Chamber of Commerce Fall Membership luncheon on September 25 – hope to see you there. 

 

We appreciate the warm welcome and look forward to seeing you soon at all the events and places that make this community special.

Categories: Listen Up Blog

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