FPL made this announcement during the Connected Cities panel at eMerge Americas:
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) today announced the certification of Miami-Dade County’s Light Speed building as a pre-qualified data center location. The announcement was made this morning at the eMerge Americas conference, the annual technology and innovation event that promotes the acceleration of a technology corridor for the Americas. The 197,000-square-foot building, located at 11500 NW 25 Street in Doral, currently houses Miami-Dade’s 911 call center, and offers an additional 155,000 square feet of available space and 3.2 acres of vacant land, which is primed for expansion.
FPL commissioned Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Company (BLS), a leading economics and site selection firm, to study and review a combination of factors to identify the most attractive sites for data centers in Florida. The criteria included reliable and redundant access to electric power, fiber infrastructure, competitive cost structures and locations insulated from man-made and natural risks. This is the fourth site FPL has pre-qualified within its 35-county service territory, in addition to sites near West Palm Beach, Sarasota and Jacksonville.
Miami is home to the Network Access Point (NAP), which serves as a major switching station for Internet traffic to and from Latin America, and is located only 12 miles from the site. The tech industry in the city is booming with a 24 percent increase in tech jobs since 2012, according to the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s official economic development agency.
According to Data Center Map, the online authority for data center locations, Miami tops the Florida market for data centers with 25 currently located in Miami, followed by 19 in Tampa. Florida overall has been ranked number two in tech hiring by The Dice Report and number two for Best Business Climate by Business Facilities Magazine and is recognized as one of the top five telecom hubs in the world by Enterprise Florida, Florida’s principal economic development organization.