“While we aren’t announcing the data center project at the moment, the council’s action moves plans forward,” said Kittrell. The site plan for a data center in Waukee calls for a 46,000 square foot facility to be built in three phases. The project has a price tag of $15 million. The center would employ 11 people earning salaries between $40,000 and $100,000.

Waukee Mayor Bill Peard said the city is thrilled to work with a company which has the potential to bring Iowa’s tech boom to his community. Google announced last year a huge data center project for Council Bluffs. This month, Microsoft also announced it would locate a data center in the Des Moines metro area. The TEAM project would be smaller, but technology experts in the state say it points to Iowa’s strength in retaining and attracting high-tech companies.

TEAM Technologies is headquartered in Cedar Falls, Iowa where it operates a 25,000 square foot data center. In addition, TEAM has just completed a data center in Fitchburg, Wisconsin just outside of Madison.

“We believe in building our centers in the Upper Midwest,” said Kittrell. “We think the region is ideal for data centers because of the low risk of terrorism, earthquakes and other natural disasters. We build our centers to withstand tornados and carefully choose sites outside of flood plains. We call our method security through obscurity,” Kittrell explained.

When choosing sites, TEAM also considers power availability, fiber availability, and progressive communities with a good understanding of what data centers do. For more information about TEAM Technologies, go to www.team-companies.com.