Fort Collins and Hewlett-Packard are like pancakes and syrup – they’re made for each other. It has been that way since 1978 when HP opened on Harmony Road.
The company’s presence has had a profound and positive impact on Fort Collins, Northern Colorado and Colorado.
The most recent example is the opening of a new lab on the HP campus. The 50,000 square foot research facility allows the company to explore environmentally sustainable technologies and techniques for operating data centers. According to company information released a couple of months ago, the lab will expand on HP’s Converged Infrastructure architecture by developing technologies to eliminate IT sprawl, increase energy efficiency and reduce power consumption to help clients minimize their carbon footprint and reinvest cost savings into business innovation.
You can go here for HP’s press kit and to see photos of the lab.
The lab is a major capital investment in the Fort Collins facility and a significant job creator. Company officials have held employment numbers close to the vest, but while discussing the project with City officials, they indicated that over 100 highly compensated positions would be created. Industry experts that I’ve talked with say that this type of facility could employee over 200 people and probably more.
HP had other locations where it could have made this investment. Thanks to local company advocates and strong staff work by the City of Fort Collins and the adoption of a Business Investment Agreement by the City Council last May, the community was able to land this investment.
The Chamber estimates that the lab will have an annual impact of $50 million on Fort Collins, which is conservative.
Ham and eggs, pancakes and syrup, peanut butter and jelly, Hewlett-Packard and Fort Collins. Inspired combinations.