Grant County to get two more data centers

Two more technology companies have announced plans for new data centers in power-rich Grant County in Central Washington.

Officials from Ask.com, an Internet search firm, have disclosed they’ve taken an option to build a data center in the city of Moses Lake. Ask.com is the new name for the search engine Ask Jeeves. Its parent company is IAC/InterActiveCorp., of Oakland, Calif.

Intuit, Inc., the Mountain View, Calif. developer of financial software, has also announced it will build a data center on 63 acres north of Quincy, Grant County officials have said.

In 2006, both Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo broke ground on large data centers in Quincy, using land purchased from the Port of Quincy. Both tech firms said the availability of inexpensive hydro power helped them locate the data centers in Grant County.

A Seattle newspaper noted that Ask.com officials have not identified the site of their data center. One site being considered is the TITAN 1 Data Center, a former NORAD defense structure located in the city of Moses Lake, according to the Seattle news story. That building’s majority owners are Bob Caldwell and John Agnew, former executives at Microsoft.

The Intuit data center will be used as the tech company’s corporate data center, said Terry Brewer, executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Council. Company officials from Intuit have not disclosed what they paid for the land from private owners.