Three States in Running for Verizon Mega-Center

Verizon may have bought an option on land near Laramie, Wyoming, but the company is considering at least three other sites for a huge data center project in the western United States. Verizon has also scouted locations in Fort Collins, Colorado; Boise, Idaho; and another site in Wyoming near Cheyenne, according to the Laramie Economic Development Corporation (LEDC).

The LEDC told the Laramie Boomerang that Verizon is not likely to make a final decision until after the Wyoming state legislature rules on an incentive package that would exempt data centers from sales and use taxes on servers, power and cooling equipment and software.

75 Megawatt Data Center
Verizon has discusses using 75 megawatts of power capacity for the facility, which would make the project one of the largest data center campuses in the country. Local officials said the 75 megawatts would be the equivalent of the current power usage of the entire city of Laramie. The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) estimates Verizon’s proposed mega data center would be a multi-billion dollar facility that would create 500 jobs during construction and 150-200 permanent jobs paying an average annual salary of $75,000 to 85,000.

The huge communications company has secured an option on 160 acres of land about a half a mile north of Laramie. Verizon says its search is focusing on sites that can offer a climate that supports the use of fresh air cooling, strong power and fiber infrastructure and a workforce that ca support ongoing demand for IT workers.

Separate Project from Buffalo Proposal
The information on Verizon's site search confirm that the project is a separate requirement from the huge data center the company is planning in upstate New York. Verizon has outlined plans for a mammoth data center campus in Somerset, N.Y. on the shores of Lake Ontario. The company outlined plans to spend $500 million to build 900,000 square feet of data center space, which it will fill with up to $3.4 billion worth of equipment over the 20-year life of the facility.