There is a buzz going around Columbia about Google’s competition. They are choosing a small number of communities to install fiber optic communication lines throughout the community. It came to my attention that most people read that as “so…they’re going to give me faster internet?” The short answer is yes, but that is a side effect of the main reason Google Fiber is good for Columbia: Tech companies would flock to our new communication lines.
Reference: Angelou Economics “REPORT: DATA CENTER ANALYSIS & EVALUATION FOR COLUMBIA, MISSOURI” published October 2007.
- Columbia has a lot of people tech companies want to hire. “33.5% of Boone County’s population is in the critical25-44 demographic valued by high tech companies, far exceeding benchmarks”
- Columbia has a lot of people tech companies want to hire. “Columbia’s proportion of employees in various computer related occupations significantly higher than nation as a whole.”
- Columbia is a great value for tech companies. “Housing values indicate the pressures on a given real estate market, and are thus a good proxy for land prices.”
- Columbia has incentives for tech companies. “Missouri (Boone County) Chapter 100 Industrial Development Bonds have potential appeal to data centers.”
Top reason Columbia is the best choice for Google Fiber for Communities:Columbia possesses sites with potential to meet the needs of both Tier III and Tier
IV data center users; however, site infrastructural upgrades are needed in order to make sites ready for data center investment.
Translation: We need would put a data center there but it needs a major internet upgrade.
Columbia and Google are the final piece of each others puzzles. We have everything else that tech companies need except major communication networks. By tapping into Columbia Google will have direct access to these new tech companies as they flock to town and Columbia will enjoy the benefit of many new quality green industrial jobs.
Please nominate Columbia, MO for Google’s Fiber Optic Trial
Tags: data center, gigabit, google, google fiber, green jobs, internet, tech companiesCategories: Business Development, Economy, Local Issues, Politics, Research, Tech.
[...] jobs and data centers we want to attract and have an enormous impact on our local economy. (See this Columbia Business Times post about [...]