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A new data center where Twitter is moving the computer systems that run the massive messaging service is operational in Bluffdale, the company that operates the facility said Tuesday.
Dave Jenkins, C7 Data Centers vice president of market operations, said the center where companies buy or lease space for large banks of computer servers is functioning.
Twitter announced in July it was locating its computer operations in Utah but refused to disclose the location or identify a local partner in the project. C7, based in Lindon, also has declined to identify Twitter as one of its clients. But neither company has denied reports that Twitter is locating its new data center in the latest C7 facility in Bluffdale next to Interstate 15 and near the state prison.
"Several large companies have already signed multiyear agreements to move into the facility, including an anchor tenant," C7 said in a news release this week.
Jenkins and a Twitter spokesman again Tuesday refused to answer questions about Twitter's specific involvement. Jenkins did say that the center has 15,000 square feet of space that is operational, with an additional 25,000 available.
"It's all functional," Jenkins said. "It's being commissioned. There's power to it." Companies that have contracted with C7 are able to process data in the new center, he said, while declining to name them.
Twitter allows users to send out 140-character messages to "followers." Its explosive growth — now transmitting about 1,000 tweets per second — has led to serious service problems.
A Twitter engineering blog announced in July that the company was "moving our technical operations infrastructure into a new, custom-built data center in the Salt Lake City area." The San Francisco-based company said the new center would be the first it manages itself and would give it more flexibility to meet its needs and accommodate growth.
C7 has four data centers in Utah. It contracts with other companies to provide space, power and cooling for their computers, or it also can operate data processing for them and backup storage for disaster recovery.