Big Expansion for EDS' Tulsa Data Center

EDS today announced plans to expand its Service Management Center in Tulsa, Okla., more than doubling the data center space available at the facility. When the expansion is complete, the building will feature 440,000 square feet of space, including 156,000 square feet of raised floor data center space to provide high-density server capacity for EDS and its clients. That's more than double the facility's current capacity of 76,000 square feet of raised floor space. EDS is expected to begin construction in the third quarter of 2007 with completion targeted for 2009.

Tulas is one of the most affordable places in America for operating an enterprise data center, according to a 2006 study by the Boyd Group, a corporate site location consultant based in Princeton, N.J.

"There are many reasons EDS chose to expand operations in Tulsa, including access to a highly skilled workforce, lower energy costs and availability of technical infrastructure," said Keith Kasten, EDS vice president, Service Delivery. "Expanding the data center facility in Tulsa positions EDS for sustained growth and will allow the company to continue delivering first-class information technology services to its clients well into the future."

The expansion follows Google's announcement in May that it would ivnest $6000 million to build a data center in Pryor, Oklahoma. Local officials are understandably pleased with the state's success in the data center sector.

"EDS' expansion decision underscores Oklahoma's attractiveness and business appeal to large corporations," said Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry. "This expansion, by one of the largest information technology services companies in the world, will continue to drive the economies of Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma."

EDS opened the Tulsa data center in 2003. With more than 35 megawatts of emergency power, equivalent to powering more than 28,000 homes, and onsite fuel and water storage, the facility can sustain its "lights out" operations for up to 10 days. It is one of more than 100 data centers managed around the world by EDS, a leading global technology services company.