The Northeast Tennessee Valley is becoming a magnet for data center sites that bring high-paying jobs. 

With a robust, reliable fiber-optic network and high-speed broadband connectivity in communities across its three states, the region is home to the nation’s first Tier III certified commercial data storage facility. Three communities – Bristol, Tenn., Morristown, Tenn. and Duffield, Va. – are on the list of 15 that have been pre-qualified as primary data center sites by the Tennessee Valley Authority, a designation based on accessibility, telecommunications infrastructure, and electric power availability and reliability.

“The Northeast Tennessee Valley is a prime location, not for any one particular reason, but due to the synergies of our regional assets,” says Lewis Cox, president of the Northeast Tennessee Technology Council and IT planning coordinator for Mountain States Health Alliance. “Our stable geology and favorable geography place us at low risk, we have several institutions of higher learning located within our region, and our government support is excellent at local, state and national levels.”

Virtual Efficiency

According to Cox, solid telecommunications infrastructure and the TVA power system with its low rates and excellent reliability have created a stable, dependable environment for entities such as the Mountain States Health Alliance, a 14-hospital health system with locations in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia.

“We take advantage of the excellent telecommunications network that exists in our region, especially in the areas of electronic records exchange and video-conferencing,” Cox says of the Johnson City data center. “This reduces travel between locations, increasing efficiency, and allows our health-care providers to more effectively collaborate.”

Reliable Data Storage

OnePartner, which provides co-location data storage for businesses, has run an advanced technology and applications center in Duffield, Va., since 2008. Its Tier III certification provides uninterrupted computing infrastructure.

“In this region, the economic development entities from multiple counties join efforts,” says OnePartner director Tom Deaderick, who will assume the presidency of the Southwestern Virginia Technology Council this year. “The Virginia Tobacco Commission has invested $60 million in fiber and telecommunications infrastructure in this area. The location we selected was the center point of that infrastructure in Southwest Virginia. It is really great that Duffield has been able to lead the way nationally.”

Data storage reliability is paramount in the development and success of such centers, and Deaderick says the region has lived up to its reputation as a premier location. “We have a 100 percent up-time performance record, since October 2008,” Deaderick says of OnePartner. “It’s an assurance to the customer that really trumps the usual service level agreements in the marketplace.”

OnePartner’s presence and success have helped the region in its ability to recruit new companies that require data storage, Deaderick says, and he welcomes the location of other data centers within the region.

The labor force has been excellent, he says, with zero turnover among the company's 14 employees since it launched operations in Duffield.

New Jobs and Investment

Telecommunication advances have also led to new jobs and investment. Advanced Call Center Technologies, a national consumer finance and mortgage servicing company, expanded its Johnson City operations and added 300 jobs.

Communities like Morristown are doing their part to prepare the region to be competitive, providing fiber-optic service to all residential and industrial districts. Technology centers are sprouting up at colleges and universities throughout the region to build a solid workforce for this emerging industry.