Google has apparently dispatched its self-styled "Duke of Data Centers" to the land of Oz, as it considers whether Australia is worthy of Project Will Power.

Over the past few weeks, according to Australian IT, a small team of American Googlers arrived Down Under for "high-level discussions" with local data center providers, and sources say these meetings were led by a man named Simon Tusha, who likes to call himself "Google's Duke of Data Centers."

When we asked Google's US Chocolate Factory whether the company is considering its very own Australian data center, it answered without answering. "Fast, innovative products are crucial for our users and require significant computing power," a company spokesman told us. "As a result, Google invests heavily in technical facilities around the world and is constantly on the look out for additional locations. However, we don't comment on possible sites or locations."

But in speaking with Australian IT, an Oz-based spokesman at least indicated the company is mulling things over. "While we're investing in our Australian operations, we haven't made any decisions about whether we'll locate a data centre here," he said.

At last count, Google is operating or constructing 36 data centers across the globe, but you won't find one Down Under:

Google's Worldwide Data Centers

According to Australian IT, this has caused some Aussie businesses to forgo marriage with Gmail and other cloudy Google apps. Routing data to Google servers overseas can spike bandwidth costs.

Thanks to something called Project Will Power, it's now the norm for Google to construct its data centers by piecing together intermodal shipping containers pre-packed with servers and cooling equipment. With this modular setup, Google can construct the building blocks for each center at a central location and then ship them around the world as needed.

Word has also leaked that the company is building its own servers and its own Ethernet switches.

In February, Google admitted to building an underwater comms cable between the US and Japan. And in 2009, it plans to open a 250-person office in Sydney. ®

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