McGraw-Hill Plans $100M NJ Data Center

Publishing giant McGraw-Hill will invest $100 million to build a brand new 180,000 square foot data center in East Windsor, N.J., the company said yesterday. McGraw-Hill has filed plans with the local planning board, and is planning to complete the new facility by 2008. The new data center will expand McGraw-Hill's multi-building campus on Route 571 in East Windsor.

McGraw-Hill spokesman Steven Weiss said the move reflects the publishing industry's shift from paper to digital products, eliminating printing, shipping and warehousing costs. "That allows us to be more efficient," Weiss told the Times of Trenton. "We are not bound by the ability to ship a book somewhere if someone can buy and access our product online ... all you need is a computer and a modem."

I would love to include a link to the story online. But alas, I can't. The only reason I saw it at all is because I get home delivery of the Trenton Times, which is our local paper, and was also my employer for seven years (1993-2000). I almost missed it, as it was buried on page 6. I tried to find the story on the NJ.com web site, which is owned by the Times' parent company and publishes the paper's stories on the Web. It's not there.

It's kind of amazing that a major employer announces an investment of $100 million in a community and the local paper buries the story and doesn't publish it on its web site.