Oracle mysteriously halts work on green data center

Oracle recently halted work on a green data center project in a suburb of Salt Lake City, but it is not clear why.

The data center in West Jordan, which is supposed to support Oracle's on-demand division, was announced last year under the name "Project Sequoia."

Various reports have placed the center's size at 200,000 square feet, with a construction budget of about US$300 million. The project was to make major advancements in power savings, according to a presentation by Oracle CIO Mark Sunday at last year's LinuxWorld conference.

But for now, that vision won't be realized.

"They've said they are going to postpone construction," said Michael Sullivan, communications director for the Governor's Office of Economic Development. Utah expects that Oracle will resume the project, but the vendor hasn't stated a time frame, Sullivan added.

Oracle stands to enjoy millions in state and local incentives, but under Utah's regulations, it won't receive anything until the project is completed, according to Sullivan.

Sullivan declined to speculate on the reasons behind Oracle's decision.

One possible clue is tied to the vendor's pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which recently opened an advanced data center in the neighboring state of Colorado.

Oracle did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.