Google boosts Bluffs' profile

BY STEVE JORDONWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Council Bluffs and Omaha, for the first time, are both among the top 10 desirable U.S. locations for new high-security data centers - a coveted type of business development that generates top-paying jobs with high-profile employers.

Google's $600 million data center northwest of U.S. Highway 275 and South 11th Street has helped land Council Bluffs on a top 10 list for high-security data centers.

Thank Google for that.

Omaha was on the Boyd Co.'s list of top data center sites in 2005, and now Council Bluffs is, too, because Google is establishing a $600 million, 200-employee data center along U.S. Highway 275.The timing is just right, although Omaha faces some challenges, as well.

John A. Boyd, a consultant and son of John H. Boyd, founder of the Princeton, N.J., site selection company, said Google's Council Bluffs location has huge implications for the Omaha area's chance to attract at least one other major data center in coming months.

"I can tell you Omaha's being looked at very closely," said Boyd, who was in Omaha last week advising clients. "There's an Omaha brand that's very compelling. Smart people are aware of Omaha."

A long list of businesses with sensitive digital records - banks, insurance companies, hospitals, drug companies and many others - are looking for new sites to protect their data from storms, electrical blips, terror strikes or other calamities.

"This is the next big frontier of capital spending," Boyd said, because of government regulations and the importance of data protection. More here.