September 2nd,
2007 - Tulsa World
Centers of attention
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CORY YOUNG / Tulsa World
Wires and cables fill the carrier room at
Perimeter Technology’s data center at 322 E.
Archer St.
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By LAURIE WINSLOW World
Staff Writer
9/2/2007
Tulsa area has right stuff to attract data
facilities
Tulsa is low when it comes to critical costs
required for running a data center -- land, labor,
utilities, taxes -- and that places it high on one
private study that compares operating costs of many
cities.
Moreover, Tulsa benefits from its central location,
telecommunications infrastructure and skilled work
force, industry observers say.
"Tulsa really is emerging as a place where decision
makers are looking. . . . Tulsa enjoys a nice
operating cost advantage over some major markets
nationally," said John Boyd Jr. of Boyd Co. Inc., a
Princeton, N.J.-based company that provides site
selection counsel to corporations.
Boyd was in Tulsa last week meeting with some
current and prospective clients to discuss findings
of his company's proprietary study, which compares
the costs of operating a data center in 60 U.S.
cities.
The study documents the cost of operating a
100-worker, 100,000-square-foot newly constructed
data center.
Tulsa came out on the low end of the study, which is
attractive to companies looking to lower costs.
For example, most companies want to buy excess
acreage, or "buffer acreage," for future expansion
of a data center.
"There are really only a few places today where you
can afford to buy more land than is necessary, and
it's in the Midwest," said Boyd, during a phone
interview prior to his Tulsa visit.
An acre of land in Tulsa that might cost $100,000
would approach $1 million in the Northeast, Boyd
said.
Oklahoma made headlines in May when Internet giant
Google Inc. announced plans to establish a $600
million data center, or "server farm," on 800 acres
that the company purchased at the MidAmerica
Industrial Park near Pryor.
Google is a technology giant that provides Web
searches, e-mail, maps and other Internet-based
applications. Computer users often rely on Google's
search engine to find Web sites.
Certainly, Google's plan for a future data center
near Pryor helps draw attention to the state, Boyd
said.
"Companies don't want to be a pioneer. They don't
want to be the first to enter a market. They like it
when there is a precedent, so Google is a good
endorsement of the Tulsa and Pryor area," Boyd said.
Of course, low operating costs don't hurt, either.
Boyd's survey shows that out of 60 cities, Tulsa had
the 13th-lowest total annual operating costs to run
a data center.
New York City was the most expensive, with a total
annual operating cost of $15.9 million, while Sioux
Falls, S.D., was the lowest at $11.0 million,
according to Boyd's findings.
In Tulsa, total operating costs equal $11.9 million.
A data center is an information warehouse. Today,
more companies -- including those in the financial,
health care and insurance industries -- are required
to electronically store information to comply with
federal guidelines, Boyd explained.
"As the nation's dependence upon computers and
networks continues to grow, its vulnerability to
cyber attacks from hackers, fraudsters, organized
crime, terrorist elements and Mother Nature is on
the rise," Boyd's study states.
Today, many corporations are looking for smaller
markets that offer lower risk and lower costs, and
that already have a telecommunications
infrastructure and labor resources in place.
And this makes midcontinent states especially
attractive.
Google's announcement -- coupled with plans by
Plano, Texas-based Electronic Data Systems Inc. to
expand its local facility -- certainly helps put
Tulsa on the map, said Rusty Linker, director of new
business development at the Tulsa Metro Chamber.
But even before Google's announcement, a number of
companies planning data centers -- both big and
small -- have looked at the Tulsa area.
Word of mouth is a great advertiser, said Linker,
who noted that some companies are actively looking
at Tulsa.
"We're always out there actively promoting, but the
best way you can promote yourself is through these
successes and working with these site location firms
in a timely manner," Linker said.
Oklahoma's low electricity costs also make it an
attractive location for a data center.
Some of the air-conditioned data centers require 40
or 50 times more power than comparably sized office
space, industry studies show.
Gov. Brad Henry, who Boyd calls "very pro-business,"
sent an important message to data centers when he
recently signed a law that allows major utility
consumers such as Google to keep private the volume
of electricity they use.
"Oklahoma's power is some of the most reasonable in
the nation. Power costs are paramount on these
larger data center facilities," said John Parsons,
CEO of Perimeter Technology Center, which has
centers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Not only are power costs low, but Oklahoma has great
fiber-optic connectivity thanks in large part to the
overbuilding of the fiber-optic industry in the
1990s, Parsons said.
"Tulsa, in particular, has a great broad base of
technology and telecommunications expertise, and
data centers are kind of a 50-50 blend between IT
and telecommunications, and Tulsa has depth and
experience in that area," he said.
Founded in 2002, Oklahoma City-based Perimeter
Technology offers a full range of services to help
companies build, optimize, secure and manage their
network infrastructures.
Perimeter is ranked No. 488 on the Inc. 500 list of
the nation's fastest-growing private companies.
Perimeter has a Tulsa center at 322 E. Archer St.
Parsons noted that within the next 30 days,
Perimeter plans to announce a substantial expansion
in the state.
From a security standpoint, Tulsa's central location
is a positive.
"We're less likely to receive acts of terrorism than
the coasts are, simply because we're further inside
the United States," Parsons said.
Also, being in the middle of the country insulates
Tulsa from some natural disasters such as
earthquakes and hurricanes, which can shut down
operations for weeks. Tulsa also is about a
2-1/2-hour flight from either the East or West
coast.
Oklahoma hasn't seen a population explosion like
those coasts, which have experienced rolling
blackouts or massive outages, Parsons noted.
Wally Schortmann, EDS vice president with Enterprise
Service Management, likewise listed many positive
Tulsa traits, including its highly skilled work
force provided by the nearby universities.
"I can't say enough about the skills, resources and
the quality of life," he said.
EDS said in July that it will more than double the
size of its Service Management Center at Cherokee
Industrial Park in north Tulsa County, bringing its
total size to 440,000 square feet.
EDS employs more than 1,500 in the Tulsa area, with
many at Cherokee as well as a facility at Tulsa
International Airport.
The expansion came after the company determined that
it would need more data capacity in the future.
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