Facebook will expand its data center in Altoona, Iowa. The company will add 100,000 square feet to the third building on its campus which will be utilized as a cold storage facility.

Brice Towns, Altoona Data Center Site Manager, explained “every day, nearly two billion photos are shared on Facebook services, and these photos can reflect important memories. We discovered a way to preserve these memories in a sustainable and efficient way with a data center that functions like a digital attic, which we call cold storage. With cold storage, we can allow rarely-accessed photos from years past to be just as accessible as new and frequently-viewed photos.”

“Our first cold storage facility was built from the ground up in Prineville, Oregon, with servers that power on as needed. Altoona joins Prineville and Forest City as our third site with a cold storage facility, Towns added.

“Our appreciation goes out to the Altoona community and our employees for their continued support. We are proud to call Altoona our home, Data Center officials said.