Oregon IT Jobs With New Facebook Facility
The biggest social network in the world is building a new facility in a move that will create Oregon IT jobs and construction positions.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski recently announced that Facebook is planning to build a multi-million dollar data center in Prineville, Ore. The facility is expected to create more than 200 construction jobs during the building phase. Once finished, the data center will employ at least 35 full-time workers, as well as dozens of part-time and contract employees.
"This is great news for Prineville and really the entire state," Kulongoski said. "I am pleased to welcome this leading Internet technology company to Oregon. The stable, family-wage jobs and economic stimulus they will provide to this area during construction are a bright spot as this nation and this state climb out of this recession."
The facility will be used to help store and route information posted by Facebook users. Oregon worked with company representatives for several months to help bring together the land, utilities and incentives to make the project a success.
"After a rigorous review process of sites across the West Coast, Facebook concluded that Prineville offered the best package of resources – including a suitable climate for environmental cooling, renewable power resources, available land, talented regional workforce and supportive business environment," Tom Furlong, director of site operations for Facebook, said.
"The City of Prineville, Crook County and the State of Oregon have all been tremendously persuasive in helping us make this decision," he continued. "We look forward to joining the community and working with them to provide faster, more reliable and more robust service to people around the world who rely on Facebook to connect and share."
The new facility, which will be designed to LEED gold standards, will employ innovative cooling and power management technologies that will make it one of the most energy efficient data centers in the country by using renewable energy resources from Pacific Power.
"I thank Facebook for choosing Oregon and am hopeful this decision will act as a big 'open for business sign' for other companies in this quickly growing field," Kulongoski added. "This is a great example of how the public and private sector work together to create economic opportunity for Oregon communities."