The secret of Google's new mission critical data center opening just outside of Goose Creek, SC was released in April of 2007, but the hiring process has been rather slow until recently.

A Google spokesman, Matt Dunne, has said that most of the hiring has taken place over the last past 6-8 weeks.  Those recently hired ranged from upper management to data technicians.  Dunne stated that he expects hiring to continue throughout the year with a 2009 workforce in place of 200 persons.  Of the 200 the search engine giant is still uncertain how many will  be Google employees or contractors. 

The Lowcountry Google site is not expected to be anything other than a data center.  Dunne stated "that Google sees these data centers as a critical part of our ability to grow as new technologies come on board....we need to have data center capacity to handle the growth."   

One of the primary reasons for Google choosing Berkeley County South Carolina was the vast amount of water surrounding the site that will be used to cool the servers.  

 

(source: Charleston Regional Business Journal)