Potato country becoming high-tech country? Quincy, WA (population 5,044), 160 miles east of Seattle and 12 miles north of George, WA (get it?) is going through a boom as a server center. The relative proximity to Seattle, low-cost real estate, stable weather and geographic activity make it a desired spot for data centers.
Microsoft has purchased 74 acres of land for six buildings, totaling 1.4 million sf. Yahoo has an agreement on 50 acres for a similar facility after doing a data center in nearby Wenatchee. Google bought 34 acres with an option on 80 more in The Dalles, OR.
All of these facilities have several similarities. They are all rural, are bricks and mortar in nature and are close to low cost hydro-electric power. It is a major change for the software industry, which has been based upon an intellectual property business model. Today’s model is changing to an older, industrial model where physical assets are gaining in importance.
This change is being led by the growth of online applications, communications and entertainment. If most of the six billion people on the planet are online most of the time, the growth of these data centers will be exponential.
The projects promise to transform the rural towns in which they are located, adding high tech jobs and potentially doubling the tax base for the towns. The longer term benefit could be the suppliers that locate in Quincy, Wenatchee and The Dalles and the entrepreneurial companies that are offshoots of this new cluster in high tech.
Do you have the potential to become the site for one of these high tech, capital intensive data centers?
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