Information Technology

Did You Know?

EATEL Business chose to locate their Tier III Data Center in the heart of downtown Shreveport at the site of a former historic department store. Following a $20 million-dollar redevelopment project, the property was converted into Louisiana’s only Tier III data center – the highest certification for any data center in Louisiana.

Judge our cost advantages for yourself:

As the 3rd largest city in Louisiana (MSA population of 436,341), we are positioned uniquely to save Information Technology companies in both startup costs and ongoing operating costs.

Specialized Incentives

Specialized Incentives

Louisiana has the most aggressive incentives for software development companies in the nation? Software Development companies can get a 25% tax credit on their payroll. There are no caps and no minimum requirements. Tax credit can be applied to state income tax liability and the state will refund any overages Applicants can opt for 85% of the value earned as a cash rebate any time during the year.

Educated Workforce

Educated Workforce

More than 1,000 people in the Shreveport area are employed in Information Technology. The supply of workers is constantly being updated as area universities award nearly 200 baccalaureate degrees in Computer Science every year.

Fiber Connectivity

Fiber Connectivity

The Shreveport area is served by multiple transport providers with 1,000 Mbps speeds.

Reliable Electric Power

Reliable Electric Power

AEP-SWEPCO has more than 1,000 MW of availability capacity with average industrial rates 33.3% less than the national average.

Specialized Training Programs

Specialized Training Programs

Higher education providers in Shreveport provide specialized training with degrees available in Computer Science, Interactive Software Development, and Cyber Engineering.

Sampling of Well-Known Existing Industries

  • General Dynamics IT – 1,100 person IT consulting division of General Dynamics
  • Praeses – Software and mobile software development company with headquarters in Shreveport
  • APS – National Payroll and HR software company with headquarters in Shreveport
  • CyberReef – Manager Service Provider offering networking services for M2M and IoT communications
  • Venyu – Tier 3 colocation data center
Cheap Electric Power
  • Electric Power is cheaper in the Shreveport area than the national average
    • AEP – SWEPCO average Industrial rate is 1.5% less expensive than the state average, 33.1% less than the national average!
    • AEP – SWEPCO also has incentives with the maximum benefit of a 3-year demand charge reduction of 40% in year 1, 30% in year 2, and 20% in year 3 for projects over 1MW and that create more than 31 jobs.

Cash Incentives
  • Up to 6% payroll rebate
  • Cash provided to you to move or finance equipment
  • Forgivable loans at lower interest rates than traditional bank financing
  • Equity investment
  • Cash to install and rig production lines
  • Workforce training incentives designed to help you recruit, screen, and train labor
Corporate Income Tax Incentives
  • State corporate income tax credits
Cheap Natural Gas

Centerpoint Energy

  • Shreveport sits atop the Haynesville/Bossier Shale area
    • Estimates indicate 304 Tcf of recoverable natural gas for the combined Haynesville and Bossier formations
Sampling of our Data Center Industry

EATEL

  • EATEL’s Shreveport Data Center, located in downtown Shreveport, has been installed with over 200 IT server and switch racks fed by 91,000 ft. of power cabling–providing 5KW per rack for Data, Managed Services and Cloud services. This data center is the only tier rated facility in Louisiana and is the 46th Uptime Institute Tier III facility in the United States. Electric Power is cheaper in the Shreveport area than the national average
    • AEP – SWEPCO average Industrial rate is 1.5% less expensive than the state average, 33.1% less than the national average!
    • AEP – SWEPCO also has incentives with the maximum benefit of a 3-year demand charge reduction of 40% in year 1, 30% in year 2, and 20% in year 3 for projects over 1MW and that create more than 31 jobs.

Engineered Solutions for Data Center Construction

Fibrebond

  • Shreveport manufacturing company which specializes in building prefabricated structures for use in the data center sector.

Gordon Incorporated

  • Shreveport manufacturing company which engineers architectural products for data centers.

Skilled Workforce

When it comes to information technology, availability to a skilled workforce is pivotal. Shreveport boasts a highly talented workforce for data center operations as evidenced by the following workforce data:

  • 278 Computer Systems Analysts
  • 260 Computer User Support Specialists
  • 233 Computer Occupations, All Other
  • 211 Software Developers, Applications
  • 179 Network and Computer Systems Administrators
  • 173 Computer and Information Systems Managers
  • 162 Software Developers, Systems Software
  • 153 Data Entry Keyers
  • 146 Computer Programmers
  • 86 Computer Network Support Specialists
Municipal Water
  • 78,000,000 gpd Water Plant Capacity
  • 40,000,000 gpd Average Daily Consumption
  • 65,000,000 gpd Peak Consumption
  • 16,000,000 gpd Ground Storage Capacity
  • 6,00,000 gpd Elevated Storage Capacity
  • 5,000,000 gpd Excess Capacity
  • 40 to 70 psi Pressure in Mains
Data Center employment has grown by 203% in the Past 5 Years!
  • 203% growth in people employed in Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
  • 81% growth in people employed as Computer Occupations, All Other
  • 43% growth in people employed as Computer and Information Research Scientists
  • 37% growth in people employed as Software Developers, Systems Software
  • 27% growth in people employed as Computer and Information Systems Managers
  • 21% growth in people employed as Computer Systems Analysts
  • 21% growth in people employed as Information Security Analysts
  • 18% growth in people employed as Computer Network Architects
  • 14% growth in people employed as Computer Programmers
  • 9% growth in people employed as Computer User Support Specialists
  • 7% growth in people employed as Database Administrators
  • 6% growth in people employed as Computer Network Support Specialists
Facilities

Click Here to see a full list of buildings available

Information Technology Relevant Workforce Training & Development:

Cyber Innovation Center

Cyber Innovation Center, located in Bossier City, Louisiana, serves as the primary support for the development and expansion of a knowledge-based workforce throughout the Shreveport region.

  • Located on the 3,000 acre National Cyber Research Park in Shreveport
  • Primary purpose is to foster collaboration to accelerate technology, research, and development
  • Seeks to create opportunities for government, private industry, and academia to collaborate and develop new processes

Louisiana Tech University

Louisiana Tech University’s Center for Secure Cyberspace assists faculty in cyber-related research, while supporting federal, state, and private sector cyberspace security needs.  in collaboration with the Cyber Innovation Center (CIC) in Bossier City, Louisiana.

The Core Research Team have experience working in the following areas:

  • Rare and event pattern detection
  • Malware and botnets
  • Anomaly detection
  • Cyber forensics
  • Information fusion
  • Secure information dissemination
  • Grid computation
  • Interactive visualization
  • Adversarial cyber-behavioral biometrics
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles
  • Sensor networks.

Additionally, Louisiana Tech offers a degree program in Cyber Engineering with a focus on preparing students to be technical leaders in cybersecurity through integrating computer science, electromagnetic sciences, and mathematics with engineering fundamentals.

Location and Transportation

Shreveport is located along the intersection interstate 20 and 49, two and a half hours east of Dallas. We have access to two Class I railroads (KCS and UP), a river port with barge and rail access, as well as Shreveport Regional Airport, which is recognized as the second busiest air cargo airport in the State of Louisiana

Interstate

Shreveport is located along Interstates 20 & 49.

Rail

Union Pacific and KCS both provide Class I service to our MSA.

Riverport

Located on the Red River Waterway just south of Shreveport, Louisiana, The Port has immediate access to barge, rail, motor freight and air transport providing a robust network of distribution.  The port has multiple greenfield sites.

Airport

We have flights to Denver, Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Destin, & Orlando