The important significance of the Northern Virginia information middle market is nicely understood by know-how corporations worldwide. So, too, is the dramatic discount in obtainable information middle capability that has impacted Ashburn and Sterling in Loudoun County over the previous 12-18 months.
Based on JLL’s North American Data Center Report, Northern Virginia skilled its fourth straight 12 months of document demand in 2023. In consequence, information middle emptiness within the area stays under 2%.
This shortage has impressed information middle builders to look to surrounding counties in Virginia and neighboring states for growth alternatives. Thankfully, one needn’t look additional than simply 60 miles from Ashburn to Culpeper, Virginia. This was as soon as an agricultural space with a historic footprint – and now, it’s developed to grow to be extra: Northern Virginia’s newest information middle enclave.
Culpeper, Virginia: A Wealthy Historical past
To stroll down reminiscence lane, many acknowledge Culpeper as the location of a number of Civil Conflict battles, but it surely additionally served a significant position in the course of the Chilly Conflict.
In preparation for a possible nuclear battle with the Soviet Union, in 1969 the US Federal Reserve stockpiled billions of {dollars} in money in an underground, three-story radiation-hardened construction in Culpeper, full with a 30-day provide of meals and water for 500 Federal workers.
Along with the foreign money reserves, the underground construction additionally housed and ensured the safekeeping of the central node within the Fedwire system that allows digital financial institution transfers, known as the ‘Culpeper Change’.
After the Chilly Conflict, the US authorities transferred the power to the Library of Congress in 1997. The ultra-secure, underground facility is the right location to retailer priceless audio-visual supplies, and as we speak it’s a mecca for movie preservation, the place specialists add a number of petabytes of media annually.
Now, past being a really perfect dwelling for vital bodily and digital belongings, Culpeper’s location is well-positioned to be a booming information middle hub.
Culpeper (highlighted in inexperienced) is simply 60 miles south of Loudoun County (orange)
Culpeper as a Trendy Knowledge Middle Hub
Due to the placement of the Fedwire system in Culpeper, a wealthy fiber community has grown within the space, offering redundant, ultra-low latency connectivity to information facilities in Ashburn and past.
Because of the presence of this identical extremely interconnected community, Culpeper has been dwelling to the NAP of the Capital Area since 2008.
On high of offering entry to a large number of fiber networks, Culpeper has what many Tier 1 information middle markets as we speak lack: obtainable land and energy. The largely rural space features a 690-acre campus named the Culpeper Tech Zone (CTZ), which is designated to host information facilities and public works entities, together with Dominion Power and Rappahannock Electrical Cooperative.
Power transmission within the CTZ is dealt with by Dominion, and Rappahannock and Dominion break up the native power distribution all through the CTZ into two territories, offering optionality for information middle builders on the campus.
The Alternative
Considerate planning for the CTZ by the Culpeper County Financial Growth (CCED) board of administrators gives an information middle workforce pipeline by way of the Culpeper Expertise Schooling Middle (CTEC) and Germanna Neighborhood School (GCC).
Each the CTEC and GCC are working with the CCED to offer alternatives for highschool and school age college students to develop the commerce and IT abilities wanted by information facilities working throughout the know-how zone.
Along with offering an information middle workforce, obtainable land and energy, and community redundancy, the CTZ additionally gives each county and state tax incentives to builders and their clients. To make sure the CTZ advantages the Culpeper group in addition to incoming builders, it was permitted for less than six information middle websites – all of which have now been bought.
Attention-grabbing backstory apart, some have likened the Culpeper of as we speak to pre-2008 Ashburn because of the availability of land, energy, and fiber, making it a horny new addition to an information middle market portfolio, ultimate for the bogus intelligence calls for and cloud necessities of the world’s largest know-how corporations as we speak.
These searching for information middle capability to propel innovation ought to look no additional than Culpeper, Virginia – the placement of promise.
Michael Shaw is vice chairman of land acquisition at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure.
