Hollywood of the South (or Y’allywood for some). Silicon Valley of the South. Someday Georgia will be able to shed the “of the South” but in the meantime, “insert-select-industry-here of the South” will have to work. And working it is.
On Tuesday, Governor Deal made it official and announced that CyrusOne, a leading global collocation provider, will invest $200 million in a data center campus in Douglasvillle. The investment will be over the course of seven years and is projected to generate an additional $600 million of investment. Businesses that choose to locate at the data center are also projected to create 38 jobs.
“Georgia’s robust network of economic development resources includes the technological infrastructure needed to support industry leaders like CyrusOne,” said Deal. “By establishing this new data center campus in the Silicon Valley of the South, CyrusOne will benefit from our proven record of connectivity and a workforce that is second to none.”
“We’re thrilled to be entering the Atlanta market, providing a state-of-the-art data center solution for CyrusOne’s cloud and enterprise customers, continuing our expansion into key U.S. markets,” said Robert Jackson, executive vice president, general counsel and secretary, CyrusOne.
CyrusOne had roughly a half billion in revenue in 2016. It specializes in data centers but also helps companies find partners for their space, such as gas stations that have a convenience store not operated by the gas provider. At completion, the 44-acre campus will have three separate data centers, 440,000 square feet of data center space and 50 megawatts of critical power. Its customers include 195 of the Fortune 1000 and nine of the top 10 cloud providers.
“Atlanta has become a nexus for data in the Southeastern U.S., driven by a diverse business community, including corporate headquarters, financial services, payment processing, higher education, technology and manufacturing. The enthusiasm our customers have for expanding in the diversified, thriving economy of Georgia makes Douglasville an ideal locale for CyrusOne’s continued growth,” said Jackson.
“Georgia is an established innovation hub and this announcement speaks to the value of our technology sector in generating new economic opportunities. We appreciate CyrusOne’s investment in Georgia and share in the company’s vision for future growth,” said Deal.
Earlier this year, data center giant Switch announced it would also be locating a data center in Douglas County. That facility will likely grow to several million square feet as business is expanding and it will serve as a hub for Miami, northern Virginia and the entire Southeastern U.S.
Switch’s executive vice president of strategy, Adam Kramer, said “Switch is extremely excited to bring the highest rated data center to the greater Atlanta metro to serve as a hub for the Southeastern United States. We look forward to becoming active members of the Atlanta community and supporting the growth of the vibrant tech environment throughout the state.”
If you have a need for a data center, metro Atlanta is quickly becoming a go-to destination.
