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TULSA – Google's
decision to plant a $600 million data
center in Oklahoma points to a new
growth sector for the Sooner State.
Amy Polonchek,
executive director for the state
Department of Commerce, said her agency
has worked with a growing number of
firms seeking to place server farms in
Oklahoma.
That would mark a
dramatic change in the state's
technology sector, said industry
leaders. Most of Oklahoma's data centers
represent internal efforts by state
companies such as Williams or BOK
Financial. Much of the state's success
in attracting technology firms has been
in the call-center field, which carries
a much lower investment.
Tulsa officials crowed
last week over their second such
announcement this year, a Gannett call
center that intends to open this summer
with about 200 jobs on its way to a
potential 500 positions.
Polonchek said the
Google center promises about 100
employees at first, with potential
growth to 200 or more. But the Web
information company estimates average
salaries at $48,000 per year, almost
double the Gannett center estimate, and
Polonchek said the server farm requires
a much higher initial investment.
While he would not
comment on such potential, Google
Director of Global Operations Lloyd
Taylor said Oklahoma had the electrical,
water, and land needs such facilities
require.
Taylor said that
Google has seen other companies follow
its lead in choosing data center
construction sites. Although Taylor
could not discuss specifics about
Google's facilities, he said the company
has similar projects underway in
Belgium, North and South Carolina, and
Oregon.
"Oklahoma's a natural
location," said Stan Chase, chief
operating officer for Perimeter
Technology of Oklahoma City, who said
the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber also
has fielded inquiries for server farm
placement.
"It's in the middle of
the country," said Chase of Oklahoma's
advantages. "It's fiber-rich. We don't
have the electrical problems.
Electricity is relatively cheap and we
have an abundance of electricity here.
"The cost of land, the
cost of personnel, those sorts of things
just lend themselves naturally as a
place to put these type of server farms
to maintain," he said. "They're also
away from hurricanes, from earthquakes,
and the rolling power outages that they
have on the coasts."
Demands for readily
available water, which Google will use
for environmental systems, indicates the
eastern half of Oklahoma may benefit
more from the sector's expansion. But
Chase said the potential remains great.
Taylor described
Google's growing number of data centers
as a worldwide network of buildings
containing the computers that support
its services. While the computers are
often off-the-shelf caliber, the number
and capacity accounts for the
substantial investment and required
resources.
For its Oklahoma base,
the eight-year-old Internet company
acquired an 84,200-square-foot building
on 800 acres beside an airstrip in
Pryor's MidAmerica Industrial Park.
Besides its abundant resources, Taylor
said Google appreciated the rural
location, which improves its security
efforts.
But the key reason, he
said, was the people. Taylor said the
company received a great deal of
assistance from state and local
authorities, including approval by the
Legislature of a bill that would exempt
public entities from making utility
records of large electricity users
available to the public.
"They're a
forward-looking people," he said. "They
really worked with us to make it work."
With plans to begin
operations within 18 months, Google will
outfit the existing structure while it
builds a foundation for a second
building. Business demand will then
dictate future growth.
Taylor said the
Mountain View, Calif., company intends
to hire its primary work force from
Oklahoma and will work with local
schools and universities to meet its
needs. It also intends to use local
suppliers and contractors as much as
possible in opening and operating the
center.
Chase said such
efforts should spur an overall boost in
technology personnel in Oklahoma.
"You're going to see
more IT jobs pop up," he said,
projecting the economic impact. "You're
going to see more suppliers that supply
services to these things. It doesn't
have a lot of jobs. It does require a
lot of infrastructure support and
maintenance."
With the center about
35 miles from Tulsa, he expects the
metropolitan area to attract a large
share of that benefit. But in announcing
Google's plans to several hundred
enthusiastic listeners Wednesday,
officials with Pryor and neighboring
Chouteau welcomed the company while
cheering the benefits they expect their
communities to experience.
Sanders Mitchell,
administrator of the MidAmerica
Industrial Park, said Google represented
another step forward in the park's
recovery efforts since 2001. The
recession that followed the terrorist
attacks took 1,500 jobs from a
9,000-acre industrial park that once
employed 5,200. The park now boasts
employment of 4,200 among the 75-plus
companies operating there, with Gatorade
preparing to add another 280 at a
producing and bottling plant. The Pryor
Daily Times reported that the $180
million facility should be operational
in January.
Chase said warehouse
computing expansions such as Google's
point to the future not just in
Oklahoma's development, but in corporate
computing.
"It's just incredible
to me how Google has changed the way the
world obtains information – and they're
right here in our backyard," Gov. Brad
Henry said Wednesday in welcoming the
company to Oklahoma. "That proves we can
play a part in that technological
revolution – and we should."
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