N.C. Colleges Team Up On New Data Center

The huge expense of building a new data center is prompting some innovative approaches to new construction. Yesterday two North Carolina universities announced that plans to jointly develop a $46 million data center near Greensboro. North Carolina A&T and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro say that sharing the data center will save the state more than $60 million while beefing up the computing infrastructure at both schools.

“In the long run, I think it will set a good example for the other universities in the system,” said N.C. A&T chancellor Stanley Battle. The two schools already collaborate on Gateway University Research Park, the business campus where the new facility will be located. The data center will also provide additional connectivity that will attract private companies to the business park, according to UNCG Chancellor Patricia Sullivan, who noted the “insatiable demand” for computing power.

Hosted Solutions Expands in Raleigh

Managed hosting provider Hosted Solutions will add an additional 17,000 square feet of space to its Raleigh, North Carolina data center facility, the company announced last week. The expansion will bring the total size of the company’s Raleigh data center to approximately 31,000 square feet.

The Raleigh addition marks the beginning of an “aggressive plan” to expand the company’s data center space in existing markets in 2007, according to Rich Lee, founder and CEO of Hosted Solutions. The expansions will provide Hosted Solutions with the ability to support growing customer demand for data center space. “Our strategic, planned growth in space and service offerings gives our customers the personal relationship of a small company and the resources of an enterprise organization,” said Lee, who characterized the expansion plan as “strategic, sensible growth.”

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Incentives!

Polo Ralph Lauren has selected High Point, North Carolina as the site of its new global data center, committing to the site without a potential economic incentive package from local officials. The company “re-evaluated the project and determined that no incentives were needed” according to local media reports. A package offering up to $240,000 in incentives had been under development, but a public hearing to discuss the proposal was cancelled when Polo Ralph Lauren announced its site location decision

What happened? One possibility is that the incentives came with conditions that were unacceptable to the company. One stipulation from local officials was that Polo Ralph Lauren would need to use a High Point address. The company’s existing 1.2 million square foot facility is in High Point, but uses a Greensboro mailing address.

Given that the company had dropped strong hints that it would build the 12,000 square foot center in High Point, it could also be that the standard “we’re considering other states” jawboning didn’t strike sufficiant fear in the hearts of local lawmakers.

Ralph Lauren Considers Expansion in NC

Polo Ralph Lauren is seeking a site for a data center to support its global operations, and appears likely to choose an expansion of its existing facility in High Point, North Carolina. Local officials have lined up incentives of $240,000 to convince the company to build the 12,000 square foot facility in High Point.

The High Point City Council will consider the incentive package in a public meeting on June 18. As is so often the the case with incentive proposals, the company has said it is also conidering locations in other states. The Polo Ralph Lauren facility at 4100 Beechwood Dr. is the company’s primary distribution facility, with 1.2 million square feet of space. The data center could add more than $13.7 million to the city tax base.

Huge CSC Project for Research Triangle?

IT contractor Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) has developed plans for a 240,000 square foot data center in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, contingent upon it being awarded a large federal contract. The company has told local offcials that it will invest $250 million to convert a property owned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency into a data center campus. The 400,000 square foot property at 86 T.W. Alexander Drive has been vacant for five years, and Durham County officials stand ready to offer $1 million in job creation incentives if CSC moves ahead with the project.

The CSC proposal is the latest in a series of high-profile data center projects and expansions in the Research Triangle market. Last week Network Appliance (NTAP) confirmed its decision to build a 130,000 square foot data center in Research Triangle, and managed hosting provider Peak 10 announced a major expansion of its flagship data center in Raleigh. Those two projects, combined with the proposed CSC facility, represent potential growth of 400,000 square feet of data center space in the area in just the past month.