Facebook, Microsoft looking for office space in Manhattan

Facebook and Microsoft are shopping for more office space in Manhattan, sources say, underscoring New York's stature as a must-have location for top tech companies who need to be "book-ended" on both the west and east coasts. 

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, has browsed several locations in the city including the former New York Times Building at 229 West 43rd Street, two people familiar with the search said. 

The social-networking company's New York staff is primarily in sales, although there are also some marketing and engineering personnel in the city. Last year, Facebook said it planned to hire more engineers in New York. 

Facebook, which currently occupies about 40,000 square feet of office space at 335 Madison Avenue near Grand Central Station, is shopping for 100,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet of office space, one source familiar with the matter said. 

Microsoft, also has looked at the former Times building and at a new building at 51 Astor Place, two sources said. Microsoft is looking for about 200,000 square feet, the source said. It currently occupies 174,000 square feet at 1290 Avenue of the Americas near 52nd Street, another source said. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, based in Redmond, Washington, declined to comment, as did Facebook. 

It is unclear how far along either company is to committing to a new location and they could opt to stay at their current New York offices.

Facebook is still sending out requests for proposals. It signed a 15-year lease at 335 Madison in December 2010.

Microsoft's lease expires in 2014, two sources said. New York, chiefly Manhattan, is a growing incubator for technology. In the fourth quarter of 2011 it ranked No. 2 behind California as the top destination for technology venture capital funding, according to CB Insights data.

In the last five years, information technology jobs in the city have increased nearly 29 per cent to 52,900, according to a report issued last month by the Center for an Urban Future. The report identified 486 digital startups created in New York since 2007 that have received angel, VC or other outside funding.

Many of those companies are located south of 34th Street in Manhattan's Midtown South office market, the New York home of internet search and advertising powerhouse Google.

Source:TOI

Apple: We are turning Green, not rotten

When Greenpeace went to town with its " Rotten Apple" accusation last week in India, the maker of best-selling gadgets iPad and iPhone was not amused.

Particularly because it had already refuted what it called was the Green guerrilla warrior's "over the top" hysterics in the US.

The latest accusation followed by demonstration in six countries, including India, in which Greenpeace singled out Apple for some environmental stick drew Cupertino, US-based Apple out of its usual shell to refute the charges.

An Apple spokeswoman was at pains to explain how before the survey Greenpeace representatives had been told their premise was erroneous. And yet, Greenpeace chose to focus on Apple, perhaps because using Apple's name would get it the required attention.

The American environmental NGO's report, 'How Green is your Cloud' pertains to the use of energy in running the data centres of top technology companies. The campaign - like most Greenpeace campaigns - was signed by lakhs of online users.

The Greenpeace report also castigated Microsoft, Amazon and Twitter with poor ranking.

"We love our iPhones, they make our lives better; but they shouldn't make the planet worse," a Greenpeace spokesman was quoted as saying.According to Greenpeace report, Google, Facebook and Yahoo were among those who got a good ranking. Apple was given a 'D' ranking based on efficiency of datacenters, sharing information about power use, and lobbying utilities to provide clean energy. But the company got 'F' grading in terms of location of its datacenters in places where electricity to power them still comes largely from coal.

Two of Apple's data centres located in Maiden, North Carolina and Prineville, Oregon which were mentioned in the Greenpeace report, are being used to host its iCloud service.


"Our data center in North Carolina will draw about 20 megawatts at full capacity, and we are on track to supply more than 60% of that power on-site from renewable sources including a solar farm and fuel cell installation which will each be the largest of their kind in the country. We believe this industry-leading project will make Maiden the greenest data center ever built, and it will be joined next year by our new facility in Oregon running on 100% renewable energy," the Apple PR spokeswoman told The Times of India.


The world over, the mushrooming of data centers has led to huge electricity consumption by them. Organisations like Greenpeace keep tab on them every year in a bid to force them to use renewable sources of power.Normally media reticent Apple refused to share exactly how many data centres it runs, citing competitive reasons, but claimed its other facilities located in Cork, Ireland; Munich, Germany; Austin, Texas; and Elk Grove, California are using 100 percent renewable energy resources.


In its 'Facilities Report,' Apple also talks about a tiered, three-step approach to achieving a 'net zero' goal including: ensuring its facilities are as energy efficient as possible; generating clean, renewable energy onsite and meeting the remaining need."In terms of the crucial off-site renewable energy, Apple pursues grid-purchased renewable energy from newer projects to provide energy developers with incentives to create more renewable energy resources. We also favour projects located within the same state or grid region as our facilities, to positively influence local renewable energy development," according to the report.


Interestingly, Apple pointed out that the 2011 grid mix for Duke Energy, its utility provider in North Carolina, showed coal usage at 45%, rather than 61% as reported by Greenpeace. It claimed it was the first company to report its total carbon footprint and that its facilities only accounted for 2% of that while the product lifecycle accounted for 98%.Apple is building what it said is the largest directly-owned, onsite solar array in the US. When completed, this 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will supply 42 million kWh of renewable energy annually.


It is also building a fuel cell installation that goes online later this year and will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation in the US. This 5-megawatt facility will be powered by 100% biogas, and provide more than 40 million kWh of 24x7 baseload renewable energy annually. 

However, many industry observers say that hydrogen fuel cells and even solar energy tech are yet to mature as a full-fledged alternative to non-renewable fossil fuels that currently power most of the world's humongous power-hungry facilities. This is obviously not the first, nor likely the last, skirmish between the world's best known Green warrior and the world's best-selling gadgets maker.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes