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Left, Right, And (Now) Center: The High-Tech Equalization Of America

It's official. Not only are Americans increasingly fleeing both right and left coasts in favor of the heartland in search of affordable housing, less traffic congestion, safer communities, and higher standards of living, but corporations are likewise moving their data centers to the middle of the country for many of the same reasons. Indeed, there's ample evidence that we're seeing a leveling of technical infrastructure--both physical and human--across the country. What used to be concentrated in a few isolated meccas to which the faithful had to travel--often long distances--is now becoming ubiquitously available.

We've published a well-rounded package of related stories on this subject this week, based on a new study of data center costs by The Boyd Co.

The cities at the top of the list--ranked by lowest annual operating costs--read like a Who's Who of "best places to live," as published by an assortment of publications, recently most prominently by CNN/Money magazine.

Best place of all to do your number crunching? Sioux Falls, S.D. After that come San Antonio; Ames, Iowa; Tulsa, Okla.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Omaha, Neb. This list mirrors the advice of cost- and quality-of-living experts to relocate to places as far away from the coasts as possible.

The ranking, in the case of data center relocation, is based on a number of very logical factors: the cost of both land and energy, telecom infrastructure, and sufficient numbers of tech-savvy workers to staff a state-of-the-art facility.

Other recent reports back up this trend of the equalization of places to find technical innovation. According to a survey by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group last month, Silicon Valley, long the kingpin of technical innovation, came in dead last in the annual rating of the top 12 technology hubs. At the top of the list was Raleigh-Durham, N.C., because of some very familiar attributes: affordable housing and an abundance of jobs. Other high-ranking locations included Denver; Austin, Tex.; Portland, Ore.; and Chicago.

As more evidence, take a look at Forbes magazine's ranking of the "most wired" cities, released last month. By calculating such things as the percentage of Internet users with high-speed access, the range of telecom service providers, and the number of hotspots, Forbes came up with some surprises. The top city? Atlanta. Sure, San Francisco was No. 2, but Orlando, Fla., and Raleigh-Durham both ranked extremely high. Cities you'd expect to be shoo-ins simply weren't: Boston trailed woefully behind at No. 13.

On a purely anecdotal level, here in Silicon Valley we've seen a steady exodus of workers to the prairie and southwestern states, much of it because technology jobs are emerging in the most unlikely places. I personally know a significant number of people actively considering such moves. A Midwestern gal myself, the lure of going back grows every year as the cost of living continues to escalate in Northern California.

What do you think? Where are you located? Are you content there, or considering moving elsewhere? Let us know by responding below.

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