Microsoft has teamed up with the State of Iowa to provide free technology training for 5,700 unemployed Iowans who need to upgrade their computer skills. Called “Microsoft Elevate America,” the new initiative was announced by Governor Chet Culver and Microsoft officials.
For more information or to apply, click here or call 800-JOB-IOWA.
The scoop from the Governor’s office: (more…)
Google has officially opened it’s new data center in Council Bluffs. House Democrats brought forward a proposal in 2007 that helped lure Google to Iowa – helping create more than 200 jobs in the Council Bluffs area. Similar programs were created to encourage Microsoft and IBM to locate operations in Iowa as well. The story from the Omaha World Herald (photo courtesy of Omaha World Herald):
COUNCIL BLUFFS – The next time you Google something, that search might be processed a few miles away, at the Internet company’s new data center in the Bluffs.
About 650 people gathered at the construction site Tuesday to celebrate the Iowa center going online.
The $600-million data center, located on 55-acres northwest of U.S. 275 and South 11th Street, will eventually employ about 200 people. The center houses computers that will run some of Google’s services, such as the search engine, Gmail, and Google Maps.
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State officials announced today that the Microsoft Corporation will build a $550 million data center in West Des Moines that will create between 50-100 new jobs at an average wage of $70,000. Microsoft officials said Iowa landed the center, in part, due to state tax incentives approved during the 2008 legislative session in House File 2233.
In 2007, the Legislature approved a similar package of incentives (House File 912) and landed a $600 million Google data center in Council Bluffs that will create 200 jobs with an average salary of $50,000.
