Governor McAuliffe Announces $47 Million Investment in Fauquier County

Richmond - Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that OVH, the leading cloud provider in Europe, will invest $47 million to establish its North American headquarters and first U.S. data center in Fauquier County. The company will install dark fiber infrastructure in an existing facility in the Vint Hill Business Park. Virginia successfully competed against North Carolina for the project, which will create 54 new jobs in Fauquier County.Governor McAuliffe and other Virginia officials met with OVH leadership during a June 2015 trade and marketing mission to Europe.

“OVH’s decision to establish its North American headquarters in Virginia after meetings and discussions in Europe and Virginia further solidifies the Commonwealth’s global standing as the top player in the flourishing data center sector,” said Governor McAuliffe. “Thanks to our competitive IT infrastructure and skilled workforce, Fauquier County will be home to one of the most elite cloud providers in the world. OVH is a tremendous addition to the nearly 600 data processing and hosting centers in the Commonwealth, and we are proud that the company is part of our ongoing success in building a new Virginia economy.”

“OVH is the leading cloud provider in Europe, and we are honored the company has chosen Fauquier County as its U.S. home,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore. “This significant project is a win-win, as OVH will invest in infrastructure enhancements to the Vint Hill Business Park, opening access to the development of nearly 150 acres with increased fiber, sewer, water and electrical capacity. It is exciting to watch Virginia grow as a leader in the data center industry, which has accounted for more than 7,600 jobs and $9 billion in capital investment since 2005.”

Founded in 1999 in France, OVH has a long history of innovative technologies building its data center offerings from the processor up, leveraging technology partnerships with Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and VMware, among others. Today, OVH provides cloud infrastructure as a service with products including bare metal and virtual servers, networking, private cloud solutions and more. OVH operates 250,000 physical servers in 17 data centers and deploys its own fiber optic network of 7.3 Tbps bandwidth through three continents. OVH’s unique expertise and strong offerings drive its rapid growth which leads the company to deploy new data centers and network points of presence around the world. OVH customers range from web startups to global enterprises including Zipcar, Rogers, and Michelin.

“The U.S. is a strategic market for OVH as we grow our business, and Virginia was a natural choice for our first presence in this new market,” said OVH CEO Laurent Allard. “Fauquier County offers a unique mix of a high-end, innovative digital infrastructure combined with a business and employee-friendly environment, along with a dedicated team that greatly facilitated our move.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Fauquier County to secure this project for Virginia. Governor McAuliffe approved a $1.25 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Fauquier County with the project. The company will also be eligible to receive sales and use tax exemptions on equipment. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will also be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Fauquier County Board of Supervisors Chairman Christopher Granger added, “The County is delighted to welcome OVH, a worldwide leader in communications technology, to join our growing business community. To support this important project, Fauquier County stepped up with a comprehensive package of tax, infrastructure and workforce development incentives. We look forward to the company’s future success here.”

“I am delighted that this center is locating in Fauquier,” said Delegate Scott Lingamfelter. “This will help our community and provide our young people with new job opportunities. It’s really great news.”