Double the Data Centers

After conducting a rigorous inventory of federal data centers, federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and Homeland Security Department CIO Richard Spiers have reported that there are 2,094 in operation. The number includes any room greater than 500 square feet that is devoted to data processing. It's the first peer-reviewed inventory of its kind, and updates previous government estimates that tallied 1,100 data centers.

The move to count data centers is part of a push to shrink server farms, which the Obama administration mandated in February as part of a push to reduce information technology costs, lower energy consumption, take up less real estate and bolster security.

According to the new counts, which are as of July 30, Defense has the most data centers with 772, followed by State with 361. The Office of Personnel Management has just one data center.

This post was revised for clarification.