Microsoft Investing Almost $700m in New Data Centre to Strengthen Cloud Services and Xbox Live

52
Lee Bradley

Microsoft is investing almost $700 million in a new data centre in Iowa, as the platform holder moves to strengthen Xbox Live into the next generation.

At the centre of this are servers which will form the backbone of the Xbox One’s cloud processing power. The investment will take Microsoft’s total spend in the region to a whopping $1 billion.

Christian Belady, general manager of Microsoft’s data centre services, said in a statement that the investment “supports the growing demand for Microsoft’s cloud services.”

During the Xbox One reveal, Microsoft announced that the console’s connected nature will be supported by 300,000 servers.

Following the announcement, a Microsoft engineer claimed that cloud processing increased the power of the Xbox One “infinitely.”

[via GI]

Comments
52
  • And all the anti "X1" haters shall begin now. OT: Hopefully there isn't going to be any problems.
  • Only a small dent into their profits then.
  • Say what you want, but these are impressive numbers. Both the servers and cost. I'm no fan boy but having that many servers probably won't mean Xbox Live is going anywhere, soon. I mean: What would you do with that amount of servers? They can just stay where they are for the next decades to come and provide Xbox Live and maybe other tasks, out of Xbox Live. Just guessing and starting a discussion here.
  • Still, it's good to see they're trying not to have a DIII or SimCity on their hands. Not that I think they will do. Regardless, I cannot WAIT for my X1 Day One!
  • Cloud servers? I'm guessing it'll come with a free NSA backdoor.
  • Is it Novemeber yet? Let's play already lol
  • Xbox cares about us :D
  • *Iowa* What about Europe? I don't want to have to connect to America for these cloud services
  • Anyone have any info on this 'cloud computing' that they claim will be utilized? Has there been examples of this used by other companies, is it even a real or just a concept to boost sales and soothe the concerns that the X1 isn't as powerful as the PS4, im honestly interested because if its real theres no reason that other companies like Steam couldn't utilize it.
  • Yolo
  • @10 One of the biggest examples of the cloud computing for X1 that has surfaced thus far is Dead Rising 3. Where the Cloud processing is going to allow for a world filled with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of zombies. Also coming with this will be tens of thousands on screen at once, as opposed to just a copy hundred.
  • PS4 users are gonna feel the strain in the coming years with the XOne having this sort of power behind it. They can argue it all they like, and I'm not saying its gonna be all good, but companies are gonna be going more and more this way in the future. Just hope we still get the family sharing feature soon.
  • *make that a couple hundred.
  • @12 Sorry buddy when they removed the DRM features they completely removed the family sharing they had set up for the X1. So there is no family sharing as of now.
  • @12 @14 Yeah they removed the family sharing, but told us that the family sharing was no more than a 45 min demo of your games.
  • Sometimes I wonder when he tinfo will be leaked that the X1 is not a gaming console but a NSA/CIA-developed, Kinect 2.0-powered surveillance tool. Seriously, all that Prism-shit sounds like straight from the Bourne films... But on topic: Hmm, yeah, "whatever" I guess... The whole cloud thing is just too abstract in the moment. I wouldn't hesitate using it, but if the X1 can play games completely offline, I wonder what the true benefits of the cloud are?!
  • @15. Yeah it didn't end up sounding that beneficial anyway. Definitely no sharing entire libraries.
  • I assume the data centre was put in America for convenience that way all your data can be easily spied on.
  • @15 Incorrect, apparently. http://kotaku.com/rumor-about-xbox-one-family-sharings-downsides-has-fla-534484570
  • I have a feeling that there over estimating there sales, $1billion dollars, is an incredibly big risk to bet on something that has received such a critical reception.
  • As long as Microsoft don't fucked it up. I just can't wait signing in my gamertag and look through new things around Xbox One dashboard etc.. before begin game to play. I believe Watch Dogs will be my first game to play on Xbox One when it is launch. Forza 5, Dead Rising 3, CoD: Ghosts and BF 4 can wait after I breeze enjoyment with Watch Dogs. :)
  • #8 shares my thoughts. Europe
  • That's a lot of transistors.
  • That's right MS just doesn't care about Europe and there will be no servers there. Are you fucking stupid? And if the good editors of X360A had bothered to read the article they posted they'd have realized this is not exclusively Xbox Live and is in fact a central hub of their entire cloud strategy which, most of the time, will see users not caring where in the world the servers are located.
  • @24 "Microsoft Investing Almost $700m in New Data Centre to Strengthen Cloud Services and Xbox Live" At no point in the entire article does it say it is exclusively for Xbox Live. But, since this is a gaming website,and a Xbox devoted one at that, Lee does try to point out the benefits that Xbox Live users will be seeing. Maybe you should try reading the article you are posting comments on. Just saying.
  • I just hope that most of these games will still be playable even after the servers get shut down a decade or so from now. That is the downside to this "cloud" stuff.
  • Interested to see how this pans out. I'm still upset over the family sharing removal, that would have been awesome.
  • @15 seen a few people say this but couldn't find a source. I thought they said at E3 it was unlimited access.
  • @28 It was full games not just demos http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/06/21/on-xbox-ones-social-network-canceled-family-share-demos
  • I'd like to see a side by side comparison of an offline Xbone and a online/ cloud connected Xbone, playing something like Titanfall or DR3 or The Crew all games that claim to be enhanced by the cloud. It would be nice to see if there are any significant increases or dereases in loading speeds/ performance, Graphical performance or mob numbers/ items in the world.
  • 3rd console curse
  • @12 Well not to sound like I'm defending Sony, but they did invest close to a billion on Gaikia (cloud based service) for the PS4. So it won't be just Microsoft. http://www.policymic.com/articles/27077/ps4-gaikai-playstation-uses-cloud-gaming-technology
  • @32, I'm pretty sure Gaikai is going to be used for the streaming of games (being able to play one another's games) and backwards compatibility, not actually enhance the gaming experience like Microsoft are claiming theirs can do. On top of that. Gaikai won't be available until the end of 2014 in North America only and then rolled out periodically after that. Microsoft's Cloud seems to already be in place, at least in those 21 launch countries they have announced as a minimum.
  • @33 Gaikai is going to be available beginning 2014 not at the end of the year.
  • @33 You might want to read up on the specifications of Gaikai for the PS3/4. I don't know where you got the end of 2014 from because a date wasn't released. All was said was that it's being released in 2014 with a Vita version later on down the road.
  • For those of you talking about game sharing, just remember 3rd-party publishers would have NOT had to allow you to share their games. Seeing how much publishers love used games, why would they support game sharing across the internet with any 10 people? If 10 gamers call each other family and each one buys a different game, they can then share each copy between those 10 gamers. So instead of publishers selling 10 copies of each game they sale 1 copy of each game, and lose 9 sales on each game. Do people really think publishers would have been ok with that system?
  • Good to see this happening in my home state... Should mean more jobs and help the local economy... And bring people back to the state that has seen some steady decrease in population... On a side not when do they rename The Cloud... Skynet :O
  • @26 I'm curious as to why you think cloud servers will be shutdown in a decade or so? Where have they ever said that the cloud servers can't be used in future generation consoles...?
  • @26......why does this comment come up everytime the x1 is mentioned? You guys should invest in lottery tickets since it seems everyone can see the future.
  • Are you kidding me? We have to connect to Iowa? Not really much of a "cloud service" if we're connecting to ground-based "data-centres" bullshit! Should be a "ground service"
  • Go iowa!
  • #9 - Cloud computing has been around for a very long time. It's not a thing, it's an abstract concept. Microsoft are implementing a cloud service, it's this implementation that's exciting. There have been numerous articles on here discussing it and I've posted on a number of them because people don't understand what it is, why it's exciting and why it is a game changer within the gen. I've work with cloud services for years. In terms of Sonys own implementation, #33 seems to be on the money. This is going make a world of difference. If you, or anyone, is interested here are the links to what I have written. If the # in the link to the post doesn't work just search for my name. They are layman explanations of what they are and what Microsoft and developers are doing with them. The whole articles/comments are worth skimming as in a number I respond to some questions (some are even intelligent) http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-15263-E3-2013--Xbox-One-has-the-Power-of-10-Xbox-360s--Plus--Infinite--Additional-Cloud-Clout.html#93 http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-15315-Xbox-One-Will-Continue-to-Use-the-Power-of-the-Cloud--Says-Microsoft.html#36 I hope some find it enlightening.
  • @37: I agree. Its good to see this sort of investment here In Iowa. To elaborate, Microsoft already has a couple data centers in Des Moines. This will probably be an expansion on the existing centers. I wonder what sort of jobs they might add? Being a Data Center it probably wont be any Development Jobs unfortunately(im an IT Developer for an insurance company in Des Moines). But this a good thing for everyone on the Midwest! This means faster GameBox Live for all of us!
  • There's a very good article from an engineer at Respawn Entertainment about how the cloud will benefit developers. http://www.respawn.com/news/lets-talk-about-the-xbox-live-cloud/#more-1772
  • @5 Do you wear a tin foil hat?
  • I wish I had better internet so I could enjoy the benefits if the xbone
  • @38 So.. what, do you think they will keep the servers going up on Xbox One forever? It will get shut off, it's just a matter of when. And I hope they find a way to make these games work without cloud before then.
  • #47 - The cloud infrastructure isn't for X1, it's for processing data. Some of it is dedicated to LIVE, but isn't for X1. Support won't be about them shutting the servers down per se, their cloud infrastructure will continue to grow. X1 support would stop if they disbanded the virtual environment configurations that games spin up if they require them. In terms of the cloud processing advantages, reversing the almost always online is a right kick in the teeth. I think Microsoft totally dropped the ball on explaining half the features of the X1 by choosing to go entirely in to damage control. They should have had two full throttle media streams, one for DC and the other pushing what the cloud (amongst other features) will actually do so it didn't seem like just a buzz word. Unless you are in IT or fairly well informed no one sees why Microsoft sees the gen comfortably lasting 8-10 years without feeling power stagnant. They have given no one any reason to try and embrace the near always online. They let it get locked it up into the DRM issue and completely shot themselves in the foot. There have been two statements that have touched on the power of the cloud; one from the Forza team and the other a high level hypothetical. Frankly I've written more compelling arguments on here than they have anywhere. No, I don't work for Microsoft. No, I'm not particularly a fan boy. I've just been around long enough to really see the potential of where they are going and the announcement of offloading to cloud processing was a genuine holy shit moment for me and my friends watching the reveal. By reversing that decision I think some developers may be initially hesitant to go all out and use what's at their disposal and that is a real shame. As I've written elsewhere, I think that once the X1 is in the living room and titles start to come out that are cloud powered and people see, they will find themselves online more than ever and it will become second nature. At some point we will have titles from developers that, when the online statistics back it and they are brave enough, will have some games that have to be online, even single player, with no offline play ability. And you know what? It will sell like hot cakes without anyone batting an eyelid because we will have never seen anything like it. Offloading complex and cycle heavy calculations, shifting purely data structures and receiving the results, in a fraction of the time it would take the hardware to do is a revelation. It will get faster as the gen progresses as will the ability to do more. But developers have to embrace it and by letting always online be perceived as just for DRM has hurt the gamer in the short term. Read the link "asilent boom" (#44) put in their comment. That is a developer selling cloud processing for Microsoft and a great explanation. It will be the link I repost now when this invariably comes up again until Microsoft get themselves together.
  • @45 No, but an educated guess has those servers doing more profiling, and less actual enhancing of gaming experiences.
  • Am I the only one who thinks they talk about the cloud the it's a religion? Or some kinda god? It's a little creepy.
  • @50 They just have their heads in the cloud(s).
  • games are no longer constricted to the disks and allow you to do so much more. You do have to be connected to the internet though. Now bring back the DRM.
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