IBM - New Gunbarrel Facility

IBM Boulder expands data center
Just what the expansion of IBM’s Boulder facility's for a “green” data center will mean for the community in terms of future employment is still not known.

But what city and state officials and economic experts do know is that the expansion will bury IBM’s anchor deeper into the economic waters of the community.

The $86 million project involves retrofitting 80,000 square feet of an existing 100,000-square-foot building on IBM’s campus to data center space, said Dan Willis, spokesman for IBM Boulder. Combined with the existing 225,000-square-foot data center, it will be one of IBM’s largest data centers in the world.

The center will use high-density computer systems with virtualization technology, as well as IBM’s Cool Blue portfolio of energy-efficient power and cooling technologies. This, along with energy-efficient design and construction, will reduce the center’s impact on the environment, thus earning it the title of “green” data center.

Willis said since some of IBM Boulder’s existing 3,400 employees will work in the data center and the company is still determining who will work on what projects, how many new workers IBM will need to hire once the center is built out in April 2008 is still in question. Data centers are not labor-intensive, and an expansion does not require as many additional employees as a new company opening or relocating, Willis said.

Nonetheless, “this is a major investment by IBM in the Boulder site," he said. “We hope that it will bode well in the future for both projects and jobs.”

Frances Draper, executive director of the Boulder Economic Council, said despite the unknown job impact, IBM’s investment is substantial for the community.

“For them to build it here is huge because they’re on the forefront of what IBM is doing and they successfully competed” for the expansion, she said. “The fact that they’ve agreed to put $86 million into this community is putting a huge anchor in for IBM and shows that they’re willing to invest” and would likely invest again in the Boulder site.

“It is a very good anchor that they’ve put down.”

The center will allow IBM Boulder to handle “mega, mega, mega data of companies,” she said. “It really changes the dynamic of the kind of business they can take on.”

The fact that the city of Boulder agreed to give IBM a $100,000 rebate through its pilot business incentive program and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade awarded IBM $632,000 and will work with IBM to establish a training program for the new data center work force proved that the community cares about having IBM here and made a big impression on company executives, Draper said.

And Boulder will see the impact of the new data center through the multiplier effect as visitors from the company and its customers visit to check out the “showcase” data center or to work on projects, she said. Those visitors will spend money on hotel rooms, food and more, and the center could lead to more suppliers and spin-off companies locating in the area.

By RE/MAX of Boulder, Inc.