Facebook joined a growing list of companies creating a data center in North Carolina after announcing last week its plans for a $450 million center in Forest City.

Construction of the center, which will be designed to meet LEED gold standards, is expected to create about 250 construction jobs and about 35 to 45 full-time jobs once it is in operation. State officials say future construction phases are possible if business needs require expansion at the center.

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue says the state worked with Facebook for about a year to make sure the company had the land, utilities and incentives needed to make the project a success. Perdue notes Facebook follows Apple, Google and IBM in selecting the Tarheel state for a data center.

The governors office also announced this week that Infocrossing will build a data center in Kings Mountain. Infocrossing, a subsidiary of Wipro Ltd., Indias third-largest software outsourcer, plans to invest $75 million in the facility that will employ fewer than 20 full-time workers. Infocrossing manages high-volume computer operations for other companies.

Except for IBM, which is in the Triangle area, the companies picked sites less than 50 miles from Kings Mountain. Apple announced plans in 2009 to build a $1 billion data center in Maiden and Google created a $600 million facility in Lenoir. Other companies that have created or announced plans for data centers in the state include EMC Corp, SAS Corp., and Fidelity Investments.

The governors office says companies are choosing the region because of generous state tax breaks and a surplus of electric capacity left by a collapsing textile industry.

Facebook says it plans to employ innovative cooling and power management technologies to make its facility one of the most energy efficient data centers in the country. Facebook plans to use technologies it created to rely on fewer than half the computer power and energy consumption of a similar data center constructed just a few years ago.

After a rigorous review of sites across the East Coast, we are pleased to locate our new data center in Rutherford County, says Tom Furlong, Director of Site Operations for Facebook. The team we will hire here will help us provide faster, more reliable and more robust service to people around the world who rely on Facebook to connect and share. We are grateful to the officials in Rutherford County and the State of North Carolina whose time, effort and commitment were instrumental in making this happen.

The N.C. Department of Commerce worked with N.C. Community Colleges, Rutherford County, the Town of Forest City and the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center to bring Facebook to the state. Facebook can receive up to $11.4 million in incentives from Rutherford County if it meets investment targets. The company also is eligible to receive an exemption for taxes on electricity and business property under a bill approved by the N.C. legislature last year. Legislators crafted the bill specifically to appeal to data companies.

As the national press has indicated, North Carolina is helping to lead the nation out of the Great Recession, said Lt. Governor Walter Dalton, a native of Rutherford County.

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Diplomats from 15 countries are visiting the Triangle area today to study developments in clean energy and smart grid technology. Tour organizer Lynn Van Fleit said the group is only planning to visit the Triangle area this time, but may visit Silicon Valley on a later trip. Fleit says the Triangle Area has developed a reputation as a center for green energy innovation.

Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, EU Commission, France, India, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand will be represented by the diplomats, who are liaisons in science, technology, energy, environment and trade. The group will be visiting RTI International, a nonprofit research organization in Research Triangle Park, and Cisco, a computer networking company active in smart-grid development.

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South Carolina lags behind the nation for broadband Internet connections and use of information technology, according to the South Carolina 2010 Residential Technology Assessment.

Connect South Carolina surveyed 1,200 South Carolina residents to measure the states adoption of technology and the availability of broadband service. According to the survey, 62 percent of adults subscribe to home broadband service, compared to 67 percent nationwide. The survey also found that 42 percent of African Americans subscribe to broadband, well below the national average of 56 percent. Among rural households, only 46 percent have broadband service, compared to the national average of 62 percent.

The study found that mobile broadband service was utilized by only 29 percent of adults in South Carolina.

This statewide survey on broadband is the first of its kind in South Carolina, and it shows that a lot of work needs to be done to improve adoption and use of broadband and information technology in the state, said Brian Mefford, CEO of Connect South Carolinas nonprofit parent company, Connected Nation. Expanding the use and adoption of broadband will benefit South Carolinas economy, education, and health of its citizens, and this survey is an important step forward in building awareness of these benefits.

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The North Carolina History Center has opened in New Bern after public officials and private supporters worked for about two decades to raise sufficient funds. The regional history museum, which is expected to draw about 200,000 visitors annually, is located on what had been a contaminated site next to the Tryon Palace. The Tryon Palace Commission decided years ago to buy the vacant lot, an abandoned boat yard, and then worked over the years to raise funds for the museum. Commission chairman Bob Mattocks says the project raised more than $60 million, including 28 gifts over $100,000.

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The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) has announced it will scale back plans to expand the citys light rail system due to revenue shortfalls. The system says it is planning to cut $200 million from its budget to extend the Blue Line to University City, home to the UNC-Charlotte campus. The length of the line and the number of stations may be reduced, says CATS. The cuts are a setback for the regions 2030 transit plan, which called for rapid development of light-rail, commuter-rail and streetcars in Mecklenburg County. CATS says revenue from a special half-cent sales tax will be more than $1 billion short of projects by 2030. The transit system must slow its spending growth from 1.3 percent to 0.3 percent annually. CATS plans to pursue grants and public-private partnerships to continue moving forward with its plans for a Red Line to the Lake Norman area.

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The S.C. Chamber of Commerce announced the 25 fastest growing companies in the state. Wild Creations, a company in Myrtle Beach that produces a mini-aquarium that comes to life with African dwarf frogs, topped the list with 313 percent average growth. Thomas Glover Associates Inc. of Inman was ninth on the list. Also making the list from the Upstate was JH Global Services Inc. of Greenville at fourth, SYS Constructors Inc. of Greenville at 13th, Human Technologies of Greenville at 15th, Heritage Healthcare Inc. of Greenville at 16th, Weir Capital Management of Simpsonville at 17th, Network Controls & Electric Inc. of Greenville at 21st and Cynergi Systems of Duncan at 24th. &bsp;

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Immunologix Inc. of Charleston, S.C. won a competitive award that was part of the federal health care reform law passed last year. The biotechnology company, which produces fully human therapeutic antibodies, will receive $244,479 under the Therapeutic Discovery Project tax credit. The award was the maximum credit available under the $1 billion program. Immunologix Inc. uses explanted tonsil tissue from tonsillectomy patients to transform nave B-cells into fully human antibodies to guard against antigens, including cancer, viruses, bacteria, toxins and auto-immune diseases.

The tax credits to promote innovation in biotechnology are available to companies with fewer than 250 employees and worth up to 50 percent of the companys qualifying research and development costs.

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Charlottes Goodwill Industries will receive more than $1 million in cash and software from Microsoft for a program to help veterans transition back to civilian life. The Operation Independence grant will help fund a variety of services to assist local veterans and their families with skills training, job searches and stress management. Goodwill says the funds will help 100 vets and their families in the first year of the program, operated in partnership with Central Piedmont Community College.

The program was conceived by Charlottes Goodwill Industries, which is also working with Goodwill International to create a template for the program that can be used by affiliates across the country.

This is a lot bigger than someone coming into Goodwill and using our computers to do a job search, said Bo Hussey of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. This is about helping them with the entire transition from military life to civilian life, every step of the way. Charlotte has the second highest population of vets of any city in the state. These folks are here and they need help now.”