The very important significance of the Northern Virginia knowledge middle market is effectively understood by expertise firms worldwide. So, too, is the dramatic discount in accessible knowledge middle capability that has impacted Ashburn and Sterling in Loudoun County over the previous 12-18 months.
In line with JLL’s North American Data Center Report, Northern Virginia skilled its fourth straight 12 months of document demand in 2023. Because of this, knowledge middle emptiness within the area stays beneath 2%.
This shortage has impressed knowledge middle builders to look to surrounding counties in Virginia and neighboring states for growth alternatives. Fortuitously, 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 advanced to change into extra: Northern Virginia’s newest knowledge middle enclave.
Culpeper, Virginia: A Wealthy Historical past
To stroll down reminiscence lane, many acknowledge Culpeper as the positioning of a number of Civil Struggle battles, nevertheless it additionally served a significant position in the course of the Chilly Struggle.
In preparation for a possible nuclear warfare 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 staff.
Along with the forex 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 Struggle, the US authorities transferred the power to the Library of Congress in 1997. The ultra-secure, underground facility is the proper location to retailer priceless audio-visual supplies, and right this moment it’s a mecca for movie preservation, the place specialists add a number of petabytes of media annually.
Now, past being a really perfect house for vital bodily and digital belongings, Culpeper’s location is well-positioned to be a booming knowledge middle hub.
Culpeper (highlighted in inexperienced) is simply 60 miles south of Loudoun County (orange)
Culpeper as a Trendy Data Center Hub
Due to the situation of the Fedwire system in Culpeper, a wealthy fiber community has grown within the space, offering redundant, ultra-low latency connectivity to knowledge facilities in Ashburn and past.
Because of the presence of this similar extremely interconnected community, Culpeper has been house to the NAP of the Capital Area since 2008.
On prime of offering entry to a large number of fiber networks, Culpeper has what many Tier 1 knowledge middle markets right this moment lack: accessible land and energy. The largely rural space features a 690-acre campus named the Culpeper Tech Zone (CTZ), which is designated to host knowledge facilities and public works entities, together with Dominion Vitality and Rappahannock Electrical Cooperative.
Vitality transmission within the CTZ is dealt with by Dominion, and Rappahannock and Dominion cut up the native power distribution all through the CTZ into two territories, offering optionality for knowledge middle builders on the campus.
The Alternative
Considerate planning for the CTZ by the Culpeper County Financial Growth (CCED) board of administrators supplies an information middle workforce pipeline through the Culpeper Know-how Training Heart (CTEC) and Germanna Group School (GCC).
Each the CTEC and GCC are working with the CCED to offer alternatives for highschool and faculty age college students to develop the commerce and IT expertise wanted by knowledge facilities working inside the expertise zone.
Along with offering an information middle workforce, accessible land and energy, and community redundancy, the CTZ additionally provides each county and state tax incentives to builders and their prospects. To make sure the CTZ advantages the Culpeper neighborhood in addition to incoming builders, it was authorised for under six knowledge middle websites – all of which have now been bought.
Attention-grabbing backstory apart, some have likened the Culpeper of right this moment to pre-2008 Ashburn because of the availability of land, energy, and fiber, making it a horny new addition to a knowledge middle market portfolio, very best for the synthetic intelligence calls for and cloud necessities of the world’s largest expertise firms right this moment.
These on the lookout for knowledge middle capability to propel innovation ought to look no additional than Culpeper, Virginia – the situation of promise.
Michael Shaw is vp of land acquisition at EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure.
