Microsoft running on at least 220,000 servers

Screengrabs air metallic laundry

By Ashlee Vance in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Servers, 14th August 2008 19:12 GMT

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Exactly how many servers does Microsoft own? Well, we still don't for sure, but it looks as if Redmond is running at least 148,357 boxes.

A crafty web site called iStartedSomething caught Microsoft revealing its metal haul in a promotional video. The question and answer session with Chief Environmental Strategist Rob Bernard included some visual snaps detailing the power consumption, jobs and server count of a number of Microsoft data centers. When totaled all up, you find 15 data centers with 148,357 servers, 17,406 racks and a total power consumption of 72,500KW as of Jan.

But, er, if those numbers are to be believed, then Microsoft runs about 8.5 servers per rack, which seems disheartening in this day and age of bladey goodness.

The Microsoft data centers listed are in locations such as Washington, Dublin, Singapore, Beijing and Amsterdam, Puerto Rico and Tokyo, so they do seem to cover rather global operations. And you'll find Microsoft pumping 9,000 new servers into its centers in Nov. of 2007 and another 15,000 in Jan. This matches with company claims about adding 10,000 servers a month, which should have Microsoft at about 220,000 servers today.

Moving forward, however, Redmond will need to try a bit harder if it's to meet Bill Gates' goal of owning millions of servers. ®

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