Data Centers Are a Perfect Fit in Central Texas
In recent years, Central Texas has become a booming region for new data centers. Over the past two decades the Austin area has become a popular spot to build digital storage facilities. Although many new centers are being built this year, many of the already-established data centers are experiencing fast-paced growth. An example of this is OnRamp. Located in Southeast Austin on Metropolis Dr., we were founded in 1994 as one of Austin’s first remote data centers. Now, almost twenty years later, we have plans to double the size of our already expansive, state-of-the-art facility in the coming years.
There are several reasons why data centers such as ours are booming in Central Texas. First, Austin is located in a strategic geographic region; Central Texas is rarely in the line of hurricanes from the south, and almost never comes in contact with tornados from the north. Because of its relatively moderate weather, Austin is the perfect location for no-fail storage facilities. Cities and states around the country rely on data centers in Texas, and if one were to lose power due to a natural disaster, thousands would be affected. The relative calm afforded by the Hill Country allows customers of companies such as OnRamp to rest assured that there is very little that can happen to their servers.
Although Austin is conveniently located in Central Texas, it does have competition from other Texas cities such as College Station, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio in the data center and cloud computing industries. Much like Austin, many of these cities are generally free of natural disasters, but Austin still offers a competitive edge. The city is considered one of the most environmentally-conscious in the nation and that extends to every layer of the local economy. Austin data centers strive to be the most sustainable in the country. Many of the Austin-based data centers have even been recognized by the industry, like OnRamp, winner of the Austin GreenChoice Champion Award. OnRamp prides itself on being one of the greenest companies in the Austin area and only uses green energy such as windmills to power their state-of-the-art facility.
Second, the recent rise in data cloud computing practices has meant a boom in off-site data storage. In its early days, cloud computing completely revolutionized the way companies stored and managed data. Instead of having to maintain costly in-house servers, cloud computing allowed businesses to use remote servers accessible through the Web and only on an as-needed basis. This allowed companies to save thousands of dollars but also caused problems with potential breaches of information security. The next step was to create private clouds which now allow customers to lease servers dedicated to their information. This fairly recent development has dramatically fueled the growing popularity of the data center industry.
In tough economic times such as these, a thriving local industry is a rare site to see. The multitude of data centers opening in Austin along with the significant growth of veteran companies such as OnRamp are nothing but good news for the Austin and statewide economy. Because of Central Texas’s strategic location, Austin’s environmental consciousness, and the rise of cloud computing, Austin is set to become an even bigger player in the high-tech industry.
