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This is Microsoft's fourth generation of data center design. Units like this one can operate in a much wider range of temperatures--from 50 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and from 20 percent to 80 percent relative humidity.

The fourth-generation units are newer even than the containers found at Microsoft's recently opened Chicago data center, which CNET toured earlier this year. This one is about half as long as the containers in Chicago and holds hundreds rather than thousands of servers.