RICHMOND - Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced that Terremark Worldwide, Inc., a leading operator of integrated Internet exchanges and a global provider of managed Information Technology (IT) infrastructure solutions for government and private sectors, expects to invest approximately $270 million over the next 5-7 years to open a data center campus on a 30-acre site in Culpeper County. The project is expected to create 250 new jobs. Virginia successfully competed with New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania for the project. Terremark operates an additional Virginia facility in Herndon.
Terremark has designed a master plan for the site that calls for five data center pods that can each yield approximately 50,000-square-feet of co-location space. Each data center pod will be a highly secured, stand-alone structure that will be able to house either commercial sector or federal government sector customers. The site, which is strategically located outside of the “blast zone”, will be designed to the strictest security standards mandated by the federal government, including significant perimeter set backs.
“Terremark’s new campus will be among the largest co-location data center sites in the United States,” said Governor Kaine. “High-tech expansions of this caliber are a focus of my administration, and 250 high-paying jobs will be a great asset to this region.”
Headquartered in Miami, Terremark Worldwide, Inc. (AMEX:TWW) delivers its portfolio of services from seven locations in the U.S., Europe and Latin America and from four service aggregation and distribution locations, which aggregate network traffic and distribute network-based services in Europe and Asia to meet specific customer needs.
“Terremark has been evaluating a number of locations for its new data center facility in this area,” said Manuel D. Medina, Chairman of Terremark Worldwide, Inc. “The Culpeper County site has great attributes and supports our long-term objectives to solidify our market leadership and expansion program, as well as meet our customers’ growing demands.”
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) worked with Culpeper County to secure the project for Virginia. Governor Kaine approved $1 million from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Culpeper County with the project. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide training assistance through its Workforce Services Jobs Investment Program.
“This is an outstanding announcement for Virginia,” said Jeffrey M. Anderson, VEDP Executive Director. “Terremark’s data center campus in Culpeper County will be the largest new data center built in Virginia since the late 1990s. This is the kind of project that we are working to attract, and assembled a great team to make it happen.”
“We are extremely pleased that Terremark chose Culpeper as the site of its new data center campus,” John Coates, Chairman of the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors said. “The creation of so many high-paying jobs, the amount of private investment and the related spin-offs associated with this project will have a significant positive impact on this community for years to come. Equally important, Terremark’s presence will help put Culpeper on the map as one of the most sought-after locations for high tech, telecom and other knowledge based business.”