Yahoo! data center opens in Lockport

George D. Maziarz

September 20, 2010

Economic Development

Yahoo! Inc., the world’s largest global online network of integrated internet services, has completed the first phase of a two-phase investment project in Western New York. The company finished construction and opened a new $150 million East Coast Regional Datacenter, creating 125 new high-tech jobs in Western New York with an average annual wage of $65,000. This new datacenter will host properties, advertisements and content found on Yahoo!’s web portal.

Senator George Maziarz said, "This data center means a lot to Niagara County. It means new investment and new jobs. It also means that we can capitalize on new, 21^st century opportunities. This is an emerging area for us. This Yahoo!data center is one of the first big projects in this field to come our way. Hopefully it will not be the last."

Yahoo! will invest a total of $171 million in Lockport through a two-phase project, constructing six buildings altogether. Phase I, which was just completed, focused on the construction of four of the six buildings, including an administrative building and three data wings where the company’s servers are stored. Construction for this phase began in May 2009 and was completed in September 2010. Phase II construction recently began, and will include the construction of two additional data wings.

In order to locate operations in Lockport, Yahoo! received various incentives including ten megawatts (MW) of low-cost hydropower from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) for Phase I and an additional five MW once Phase II is complete. The company also secured a “Green IT” U.S. Department of Energy grant through New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) for leadership in energy efficient design. Finally, the Town of Lockport Industrial Development Agency put together a package of local incentives for the company, including a payment in lieu of taxes agreement (PILOT).

Founded in 1994 by Stanford Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo! began as a hobby and has evolved into a leading global brand that changed the way people communicate with each other, conduct transactions and access, share and create information. Yahoo! Inc. attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most trafficked Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s offerings to users on Yahoo! Properties currently fall into five categories: Integrated Consumer Experiences; Applications (Communications and Communities); Search; Media Products & Solutions; and Mobile. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company has a presence in more than 25 countries, provinces and territories and offers services available in more than 30 languages.

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