Virginia courts Sabey

MOSES LAKE - Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell apparently spotted an opportunity at the end of Washington state's special Legislative session and took it.

He sent an iPod Touch to the Seattle-based Sabey Data Center Properties, said Carrie Cantrell, Virginia's deputy secretary of commerce and trade, on Wednesday.

The iPod Touch contained a message about why data center facilities are good for Virginia, she said.

Virginia has a tax break in place for data centers  which ends June 30, 2020.

But a bill extending a tax break for data centers' replacement servers died in the Washington State House of Representatives last week after receiving Senate approval.

It happened the same day McDonnell sent his message to Sabey Data Center Properties, according to a Tuesday Everett Herald article.

Sabey President John Sabey and his father, David Sabey, were unavailable for comment Wednesday because they were traveling, said Sabey spokesman Jim Kneeland.

"We thought it was very ironic," John Sabey told The Everett Herald. "On the same day we got spiked by the Legislature, the state of Virginia is sending us goodies telling us, basically, they'd like us to do business in their state."

Virginia's current tax incentive was part of a package for a Microsoft data center, said Cantrell.

In August, Microsoft Corp. decided to build a data center in Virginia and invest about $499 million in the project.

Microsoft's project was the largest investment project in southern Virginia's history, according to Gov. McDonnell's office.

In Washington state, Sabey has 39.02 acres of property in Quincy, where it broke ground for a data center last year.

Sabey finished a data center in East Wenatchee last year.

The original incentive resulted in Yahoo! and Microsoft expanding in Quincy and Dell and Sabey breaking ground in Quincy.

In Moses Lake, an expansion is underway at the Titan Data Center to build a co-location data center for different companies.

Pat Boss, the Port of Quincy's government affairs director, said the issue has nationwide significance.

"I believe a lot of states want these kind of major projects," Boss said. "The governor of Virginia was quick to deliver that message to Sabey. It shows how big a deal those types of projects are."

With the proposed incentive extension, there were companies considering Grant County for its data centers, he said.

With Washington's tax incentive expiring, other states are taking their shots now, he said.

Data centers are growing rapidly, as data storage is moving from phones and computers to cloud technology for storage, he explained

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is unveiling the iCloud application, Boss said.

"Every day, one of these companies have big announcements about how they will store data," Boss said. "That's the future."