Google has been secretly building a massive complex – dubbed the Googleplex (naturally) – in The Dalles, Oregon, at the Oregon/Washington border, along the Columbia river.
Reportedly the size of two football fields, the enormous Googleplex, which sports two cooling towers each four-stories high, is a source of interest and mystery to both The Dalles residents and industry watchers alike.
In fact, “Project 02”, as it’s referred to, is the subject of a city-wide NDA which the city of The Dalles signed with Google last year, and nobody connected with The Dalles is allowed to talk about it.
Explained Diane Sherwood, an official with the Port of Klickitat, across the river in Washington, “No one says the ‘G’ word, It’s a little bit like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in Harry Potter.”
And how do the powers that be and the good citizens of The Dalles, Oregon feel about their newest neighbor?
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In a state already legendary for its hostility towards transplanted Californians, Susan Huntington, executive director of The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce, says that “We’re trying to organize our chamber ambassadors to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and they’re trying to keep us all away, Our two cultures aren’t matching very well.”
And it isn’t just Oregonians who may not welcome their giant newest citizen from the south. The move to The Dalles, literally on the Washington border, puts Google that much closer to their biggest competitor, Microsoft. And while geographic location may not really mean anything in terms of the competition between the two, the physical proximity may have a psychic effect.
However, proximal leverage is likely not why Google chose The Dalles. The burgeoning cost of power (the Googleplex is located right next to a hydroelectric plant), and the need for space (Google has an estimated 450,000 servers strewn around the world) are the more likely explanation.
Of course, the only ones who can explain what they are really doing, and why, is Google themselves. And they’re not talking.
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Does anyone know yet what Google has in store for us with this new complex? Yahoo and MS must be building similar sites.