Innovation Partnership Zone Team Completes First IPZ Project in University District

Oct. 22, 2009 - PRLog -- (Spokane, Wash.) - Join a host of partners as they celebrate the completion of the first Innovation Partnership Zone project in the Spokane University District on Tuesday, October 27, beginning at 4:30 PM.  The event will take place at the Phase I Classroom Building Lobby of WSU Spokane at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd.

The Spokane University District Innovation Partnership Zone was one of the first such zones in Washington State.  Designated by Governor Chris Gregoire in October 2007, the Spokane IPZ also received a state grant in the amount of $1 million to develop a state-of-the-art data center that would be used for research and development, leading to commercialization of technologies and products on the campus.  In addition, WSU Spokane was able to leverage an additional $800,000 to allocate towards the data center, bringing the funding to almost $1.8 million.

The project included renovation of an existing communications closet and server space to provide adequate power and cooling capacity to support an initial installation of nine server equipment racks (with plans to expand to 22)  and seven telecommunications racks.  The datacenter will support existing equipment as well as new high-performance computer clusters, data racks and network connectivity to the campus.  With the additional funding, both Phase I and Phase II of the project were completed.  

Current users of the data center include WSU Spokane, WSU Applied Sciences Laboratory, EWU Spokane, the WWAMI medical education program and RIDE dental education program, WSU College of Pharmacy, WSU College of Nursing, Sirti, and the Institute for Systems Medicine.   Future plans include connections for Gonzaga University and other institutions in the district.

A short program will begin at 4:45 in the lobby of the Phase I building, followed by tours of the data center.

The partners in the Spokane University District Innovation Partnership Zone include:

Avista Corp.
City of Spokane
Community Colleges of Spokane
Downtown Spokane Partnership
Eastern Washington University Spokane
Greater Spokane Incorporated
Institute for Systems Medicine
Sirti
Spokane Area Workforce Development Council
Washington State University Spokane
Washington State University Applied Sciences Laboratory

For more information on the event, please contact Robin Toth at Greater Spokane Incorporated at 509.321.3636, or via email at rtoth@greaterspokane.org.

About Greater Spokane Incorporated
Greater Spokane Incorporated is committed to accelerating regional economic prosperity throughout the Spokane region.  Your Regional Chamber and EDC, GSI is funded by more than 1500 private-sector member investors; Washington State; Spokane County; and the cities of Spokane; Spokane Valley; Liberty Lake; Cheney; Airway Heights; Medical Lake; Newport and Millwood.  For more information, visit www.greaterspokane.org or contact us at 509-624-1393 or 1-800-SPOKANE

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