Ask.com to open Moses Lake plant

MOSES LAKE -- Internet search engine Ask.com plans to open a data center in this central Washington city, the latest high-tech company lured east of the Cascades by cheap hydropower.

"Moses Lake is an ideal location due to its cooperative business environment, access to low-cost, renewable power and superior network connectivity," Chuck Geiger, chief technology officer of Ask.com, said in a statement Wednesday. "With these inherent benefits, Eastern Washington is the right choice for Ask.com as we expand our computing infrastructure."

Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Intuit Inc., maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, have opened or plan to open data centers in Quincy, about 30 miles northwest of Moses Lake in Grant County.

"Ask.com's presence in Moses Lake will positively impact our community in a variety of ways, and we are pleased to have them as an integral part of the area," Mayor Ron Covey said. "We look forward to Ask.com's contributions and their ongoing support for the city's economic development."

The company said the new data server would enable Ask.com to support its growing query volume and provide additional computing power for processor-intensive search services, including Ask 3D.