Deal, Google to hold data center announcement

Google and Gov. Nathan Deal have planned a news conference on Tuesday afternoon to announce an expansion of the search giant’s data center operations in Douglas County, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.

A media alert states the topic will be “the Internet’s growth and economic development in Georgia.” In March, the Neighbor Newspaper chain and Venture Beat reported that Google was looking to expand its Douglas facility.

NeighborNewspapers.com reported that the county approved an incentive package to help woo the planned $300 million expansion. The expansion, the paper reported citing county officials, would also involve the creation of 25 jobs.

Data centers generally are very expensive warehouses of computer services. They are costly to build, power, cool and maintain. Georgia has become a popular place for sophisticated data storage, with the state’s relatively cheap electricity, central location within the growing Southeast and research universities such as Georgia Tech.