Lenoir Data Center Featured in Western North Carolina Magazine

Western North Carolina magazine featured the Lenoir data center in its March/April edition. Writer Jess Clarke interviewed individuals from the community, Google and Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute to craft the article, "The Package Deal: How Lenoir landed a second career."

You can read the article here.

A New Hope With a New Industry

Over the past 26 years in Lenoir and Caldwell County, Paul Bowman has witnessed a transformation.

An economy once tied directly to the furniture industry struggled for years with one of the highest unemployment rates in North Carolina after manufacturing jobs moved elsewhere.

Paul, whose parents grew up in Lenoir, was laid off not once, but twice from manufacturing jobs in the area.

“Just a little more than a year ago it looked like the job market was all but drying up and no new industry would come to the area,” says Paul. “I was looking at a two-hour commute each way to find a job.”

Then came Google’s announcement that it would build a $600 million data center in Lenoir and Caldwell County and with it came a new belief that manufacturing was not the only industry for this can-do community. Paul had been interested in electronics since he was just a boy and Google’s presence in the community reinvigorated his old desires.

“We are witnessing the Google announcement jumpstart this community, as more and more 21st century businesses are taking a second look at us,” says Paul. “Folks are going to school to learn the skills needed so they can compete for these new high-tech jobs. Enthusiastic competition fueled by new industry, that’s something we haven’t seen in awhile.”

For Paul, wife, Tonya, four children and 11 pets, Lenoir is home and while it may have been easier to find a job elsewhere, they never considered leaving. After hearing Google’s announcement, Paul decided to return to school and enrolled in Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute’s inaugural IT Institute where he found the work challenging, but excelled to the top of his class. He has joined Google’s Lenoir Data Center team as a Data Technician Assistant.

Mother Returns to Workforce at the Lenoir Data Center

For Jennifer Crump, Google’s Lenoir, N.C. data center is the most recent in a long list of blessings and hard decisions that helped keep her family in the town they call home.

A lifelong Morganton resident, Jennifer grew up in a close knit community so typical of Western North Carolina. A community she never once considered leaving, even when times were tight.

Jennifer says she counts herself lucky as plant closings, a lack of opportunities and decrease in morale had little affect on her husband, Eric, and two young children. “Many friends and family members faced layoffs at local plants, but our faith helped guide us through tough times,” says Jennifer.

As a stay at home mom, Jennifer dedicated herself to the development of her sons, Aaron, 13, and Daniel, 9, but made the promise to herself that as soon as her youngest son entered school, she would find a job to help support her family.

“The same day I took my youngest son to school, I went to Western Piedmont Community College and enrolled in the Internet Technologies program,” says Jennifer. “The summer I graduated from the program was the same time rumors began circulating about Google coming to Lenoir. Of course, this made me very excited, especially since the skills I had learned were perfect for Google.”

Jennifer made it her personal goal to be one of the first employees to work at the Lenoir data center.

She enrolled in the Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute’s inaugural IT Institute and earned her position today as a Google Data Technician Assistant.

"Silicon Valley Meets Catawba Valley"

The City of Lenoir, Caldwell County and the Google data center were recently featured in an article in the Jan. 24 edition of The Charlotte Observer. Observer reporter Jen Aronoff covers the Catawba Valley and spent many hours speaking with the community to write the article, "Silicon Valley meets Catawba Valley: Google, Lenoir settle in with each other."

Data Center Aids Ambitious Google Cloud

Google’s data centers, including the one going up in Lenoir, are central to the company’s bold vision of ‘cloud’ programming. To learn more about what the ‘cloud’ is and how it would use the power of data centers, visit Business Week’s Dec. 13th cover story.

Businessweek, Google and The Cloud

Google AdWords Seminar Aids Local Organizations

Google AdWords, an Internet marketing tool, was the subject of a special community seminar designed to support businesses and non-profit groups in Lenoir and Caldwell County.

Google specialists were on hand at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center on Thursday, Nov. 15 to explain the capabilities available through the online advertising service.

Google's Lindsay Stradley and Matt Dunne presented separate no-cost seminars, one for businesses and one for nonprofits. They surprised business people attending with $100 gift vouchers to use for their AdWords campaigns.

Non-profit groups, as always, are eligible for special Google Grants, a program supporting organizations that share Google's philosophy of community service in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, and the arts.

"The Google Grants Program is a tremendous opportunity for nonprofit organizations in our community to deliver their messages to the masses," said David Barlow, mayor, City of Lenoir, who addressed attendees at the seminar for non-profit organizations.

Designed for 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations, Google Grants offers free AdWords to organizations that apply to the program. Google facilitates AdWords seminars in major cities throughout the United States and teaches nonprofits how to apply to the Google Grants program. Google's new data center in Lenoir prompted the company to bring the Google Grants program and AdWords seminar to Caldwell County.

Available to all types of businesses, AdWords allows companies to deliver messages on the Internet to as broad or specific an audience as possible by utilizing Google's search engine—the most popular in the world. For example, American Meadows, a Vermont-based supplier of flower seeds, used AdWords to make sure individuals searching for words like "wildflowers" and "wildflower seeds" saw its advertisement. The company has grown from a local business to one of the largest suppliers in North America.

"We're glad they've taken the initiative to share their ideas with others here in Lenoir and Caldwell County," said Faye Higgins, chairwoman, Caldwell County Board of Commissioners, who briefly addressed attendees at the seminar for local businesses.

As in all of its places of business, Google is committed to giving back to the community in a number of ways, including special events such as the AdWords seminar.

"This community has done so much to welcome Google," said data center manager Tom Jacobik. "It's a pleasure to now welcome community members to learn more about how Google's services can help them."

To apply for Google Grants, non-profit organizations can visit www.google.com/grants. At the bottom of that page, click on 'Program Details.' Please review the 'Who is Eligible' section.

Community and Google Honored for Economic Strides

Google’s data center in Lenoir and Caldwell County was in the spotlight at the annual AdvantageWest banquet at the Grove Park Inn & Resort in Asheville, N.C. on Nov. 1. Rhett Weiss accepted the Golden Eagle award for Community Impact “for [Google’s] positive impact through investments and job creation on behalf of the people of Western North Carolina.” Rhett noted that the project was a team effort and profusely thanked the leaders of Lenoir and Caldwell County.

Rhett was on hand to accept the award and to deliver the keynote address at the banquet. His presentation, “Creating Tomorrow: The Web, The World and Western North Carolina,” highlighted Google’s history, corporate culture and societal impact. In addition to information regarding Google, Rhett explained exactly how the Lenoir/Caldwell County data center fit into Google’s overall Web strategy.

"The AdvantageWest staff and I have received a tremendous response from Rhett Weiss' address. His thoughtful remarks, multi-media presentation and entertaining wit held the attention of our audience of more than 525 citizens from across the region,” said Dale Carroll, CEO, AdvantageWest Economic Development Group. “It was extra special to conclude the evening with Google receiving our prestigious Golden Eagle Award for Community Impact and to have Rhett with us in person to accept on behalf of the new data center in the AdvantageWest community of Lenoir in Caldwell County."

Since announcing that Lenoir and Caldwell County would become the home of a $600 million Google data center earlier this year, the community has seen an upswing in new business and job creation. Working together, Google and the community have created a new buzz about an area once struggling due to the exportation of its established economic engines.