NSA begins work on new data center

The U.S. National Security Agency recently began construction for what will likely be one of the largest data centers in the world.

The new data center, which is expected to cost approximately $1.5 billion, is being built in Utah and is intended to ensure proper data protection for a growing volume of important electronic data. The center may provide data storage for governmental in-house private cloud services.

The data center will be used for intelligence and security purposes and will employ advanced data protection technologies in order to ensure the security of sensitive information.

U.S. senator Orrin Hatch told Reuters the data center "will be part of our expanding efforts to defend our Department of Defense computer systems from cyber attack and will play key role in helping Homeland Security keep our government's civilian computer systems safe."

Construction on the new data center is expected to finish in 2013.

The U.S. federal government is planning to encourage its agencies to adopt managed cloud services in 2012, according to a recent InformationWeek report.