NEWS-TOPIC STAFF

A region anchored by technology giants Google and Apple, along with financial data centers in Charlotte, will be the focus for promotion by five counties, including Caldwell, to attract more data centers, communications firms and high-tech industries.

At a shell facility in Maiden – home of Apple’s $1 billion data center announced in July – economic development officials from Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, and Iredell counties released details of “NC’s Data Center Corridor” campaign on Wednesday to a group of site selection consultants specializing in data center locations.

Each of the five counties participating and promoting “NC’s Data Center Corridor” has available sites suitable for data center development.

The announcement was part of the third Data Center Information Exchange in Hickory on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Site Selection Magazine, a nationally recognized development publication, recently acknowledged the corridor as an emerging data center cluster that is attracting attention within the industry.

Data Center Knowledge, a Web site specializing in information for the industry, recently published an article on the clustering of data centers as the “Apple-Google Data Center Corridor.”

North Carolina is also the top state in which to build a data center, according to a report by Tishman Technologies Corporation. North Carolina was rated highly for low-energy cost, favorable labor and fiber optics infrastructure.

The five-county corridor builds on these advantages with a lack of extreme weather conditions, easy access to two major airports and a high quality of life.

“This new clustering, along with the well-established communications companies in the corridor (Commscope, Corning Cable Systems and Draka), provides us with a huge marketing opportunity,” Catawba County Economic Development Corporation President Scott Millar said. “Partnering with Caldwell, Burke, Alexander and Iredell counties to market this to the world may give all the counties new business opportunities.”

Caldwel County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Harry Whalen envisions the area as having the potential to “be the next Quincy,” referring to Grant County, Wash., and the success it has had in recruiting numerous data centers and in their tendency to cluster.

“When you see a McDonald’s, you’ll often see a Burger King”, Whalen said, referring to the fact that many of the attributes that drive data centers are available for new facilities to locate within the newly developed region.