The proposal to build a massive data centre in Scotland will pave the way for mainstream adoption of the sustainable technologies it will showcase A massive, $1.6 billion (£988 million) next-generation data centre in Scotland will help develop more energy and cost-efficient data centre management practices, it has been suggested today. The proposed, new initial 125-acre centre to be built at Ecclefechan in Dumfries and Galloway by APC of Schneider Electric and Internet Villages International (IVI), and referred to as 'Alba 1,' will be so big it is being called a 'data farm' project. Alba 1 will host multiple, large warehouses of server and networking hardware, providing UK, pan-European and worldwide data connectivity in what could be the first in a series of such farms that could reduce the need for end-using organisations to own their own IT infrastructure and signpost the future of data centre operations.