T5 Data Centers Newest Project In Portland Moving Forward

Why Oregon needs to be on your radar…NOW

Since it’s time as the end of the Oregon Trail, Oregon has been the destination for those who want to create, innovate, and forge a new path. Since its beginning as “stumptown”, Portland has been the destination for artists, innovators and nature-lovers. Again, it’s at the forefront of innovation, but this time with Big Data. As the planning and development of T5’s newest data center in Oregon ramps up, T5 Data Centers will very soon begin construction on its next project at its T5@Portland data center campus. Just 20 miles outside of Portland, in Hillsboro’s “Silicon Forest,” the campus is already home to a 5 MegaWatt single-tenant data center that was completed in 2015. The existing 65,000 square foot Build-to-Suit project was designed in collaboration with the client to leverage T5’s proven design and incorporate customized design elements to support high-density compute and provide exceptional resiliency.

T5’s next project at the campus will be an 8.8 MW 100,000 SF multi-tenant data center facility, taking advantage of all the same attributes that make Hillsboro the premier data center destination on the West Coast, some of which are listed below:

Low Cost of Ownership

Oregon and the city of Hillsboro specifically, offer compelling tax incentives to encourage businesses to locate and grow in Hillsboro, Oregon. With no sales tax, and attractive Personal and Property tax abatement programs tailored specifically towards tech companies, businesses can see cost savings nearing 10%. Oregon had the lowest effective tax rate of all states for FY2014, and has ranked in the top five lowest effective tax rates for the past five years by Ernst & Young. And with some of the lowest industrial electricity rates in the US and outstanding access to free cooling, Oregon is a no-brainer when it comes to selecting a geography favorable to data center growth.

Exceptional Power infrastructure

Designed and built to meet the demanding requirements of Hillsboro’s high-tech industries, Hillsboro’s electrical infrastructure is comprised of multiple substations making up Portland General Electric’s Hillsboro High Reliability Center. These substations are served by four (4) 115kV transmission lines that include high-speed technology to sense and clear disturbances on the system within one-tenth of a second. A disturbance on any two of the four lines will not result in an outage to customers. Redundant underground distribution connects the system to the T5@Portland campus. And with the No. 1 Renewable Power Program in the country according to National Renewable Energy Laboratory, companies locating their data center footprint in Hillsboro have the opportunity to mitigate their impact on the environment.

Connectivity

With a slew of top Tier network providers and access to extensive transpacific cable, Oregon’s Pacific coast is an important place on the global connectivity map. Substantial transpacific network traffic enters the US through the high concentration of submarine cable landing stations near Hillsboro, where it is then carried south to data centers and carrier hotels in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles or further East. CoastCom’s data center ring provides colocation customers in Hillsboro data centers access pathways to other companies and carriers on the ring as well as access to key international markets serviced by the submarine cables that terminate in facilities connected to the fiber ring.

Location – accessibility, lifestyle and access to talent

Named Money magazine’s 2016 “Best of the West,” Portland’s quirky spirit and burgeoning tech culture are attracting top talent from across the nation. And as the available talent pool continues to grow, so does the list of companies relocating or expanding into the area. “In the past two decades, we’ve witnessed an inversion of the classic recipe for economic development. It used to be that people moved to where the businesses were. Now, increasingly, it is businesses that look to expand in locations where there is an abundance of talent, especially young, well-educated workers.” Joe Cortright – City Observatory

The arrival or growth of technology companies including New Relic, home-sharing site Airbnb and venture-backed Puppet Labs along with leaders from the other tech hub, Silicon Valley, has earned Portland the nickname of “Silicon Forest.”

As the Oregon data center market continues to grow, it will be in competition with some of the big players – Northern California, Dallas, Chicago, and Northern Virginia. Staples such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook all with massive data centers in Oregon, along with a robust list of new entrants to the market including Comcast, LinkedIn, and OVH and a plethora of other tech companies growing their data center footprint in Portland will continue to boost Oregon onto every shortlist.