March 1, 2024

There is growing interest from the data center community to look at places outside of Northern Virginia.

The Richmond region and Hampton Roads are marketing themselves as the next big places for data centers to locate, with more available land than Northern Virginia, and connections to three major subsea cables originating in Europe and South America that come ashore in Virginia Beach and connect to the East Coast at QTS Data Centers’ network access point (NAP) in Henrico County.

February 19, 2024

A Virginia Beach-based data center and subsea cable company —along with other tech advocates — spoke before a Virginia House of Delegates committee Monday. They talked about the state’s unique role in the global internet, but also warned about the opportunities they fear the Commonwealth is missing out on.

September 28, 2023

RVA757 Connects, a nonprofit focused on regional cooperation for economic development in Richmond and Hampton Roads, released on Thursday its 10-point strategic plan for transforming the “megaregion” into the next global internet hub.

July 18, 2023

WTKR TV (Channel 3 in Norfolk): Could Hampton Roads and the Richmond area become the next Global Internet Hub? On Tuesday afternoon, Virginia Beach city council members heard about a strategic plan that could transform the area.

"The real opportunity we have is to get to a world stage," said John Martin, the President & CEO of RVA757 Connects, an advocacy group promoting the regions working together to form a mega-region.

July 18, 2023

John W. Martin, president and CEO of RVA757 Connects, presents the Global Internet Hib plan to the Virginia Beach City Council.

February 19, 2023

Opinion column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Everyone knows Silicon Valley, New York, Northern Virginia, Portland and Seattle are world-class technology hubs. Another is emerging — in Henrico County.

November 30, 2022

Virginia Business magazine: Henrico isn’t the new Ashburn, but the county does have 18% of the East Coast’s internet traffic coursing through it. That’s a product of QTS Data Centers’ network access point (NAP) at Henrico’s White Oak Technology Park, which connects to three subsea internet cables from Europe and South America that converge in Virginia Beach.

November 22, 2022

InterGlobix Magazine: Nearby cities are learning that collaboration, not competition, drives scale and the economic success of both localities.

In Virginia, RVA757 Connects has been advancing this practice for the Richmond (RVA) and Hampton Roads (757) regions. The result has put the I-64 Innovation Corridor on the map of America’s megaregions, 12 micro-economies that make up 70% of the U.S. population, jobs, and gross domestic product.

November 10, 2022

The Virginian-Pilot: The Hampton Roads and Richmond megaregion, positioned at the crossroads of global digital superhighways, aims to become a global internet hub that attracts data users to the Interstate 64 Innovation Corridor.

November 1, 2022

Virginia Beach has become a digital port - connecting three continents and more in the future with subsea cables.

Three subsea cables coming ashore in Virginia Beach connecting continents, countries, and cities was the focus of a recent Virtual Innovation Spotlight webinar presented by RVA757 Connects.

November 8, 2022

Vint Cert, the internet pioneer who is widely recognized as one of "the fathers of the internet," attended the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC) Global NAP Summit conference in Henrico County.

October 15, 2022

The Virginian-Pilot: Hampton Roads is ready to ride on a superfast information highway.

Collaboration and planning from regional leaders led to the development of an ultrafast fiber connectivity ring aimed at bringing faster and more reliable internet and data services to the 757. Ultimately, one goal is to attract attention to Hampton Roads and Richmond as a recognized global internet hub.

October 4, 2022

Five Hampton Roads cities – Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Suffolk – have joined forces to build a 119-mile fiber ring to bring ultrafast internet to those communities. Future phases include eventually connecting all 17 cities and counties including those localities on the Peninsula.

September 30, 2022

Listen to Communications Director Gregory J. Gilligan talk about subsea cables and the Global Internet Hub on radio station WRVA

September 24, 2022

A full-page infographic in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Saturday, September 24) focusing on how subsea cables coming ashore in Virginia Beach connect to data centers in Henrico, including the world’s fourth largest one and the Meta/Facebook data center next door.

September 7, 2022

Data centers are the engines of the digital economy, and an increasing amount of activity is taking place in the I-64 Innovation Corridor. Henrico County, for instance, is home to the QTS data center, the world’s fourth largest data center. Construction is underway to more than double the QTS campus with a 1.5 million-square-foot addition.

August 26, 2022

The partnership highlights the emergence of the Richmond region as an important stronghold for data center operators and the development of global internet connections to manage the ever-growing transmission of data for generations to come.

April 5, 2022

One of the biggest threats facing cybersecurity globally is how businesses don’t make cybersecurity a priority.

“That lack of preparation, that lack of understanding that the threats are out there, and that unwillingness to essentially identify cybersecurity as a primary risk to any business is what is going to largely victimize many, many companies,” said Rob Cochran, director of digital forensics and incident response at cybersecurity services firm Stroz Friedberg’s office in Virginia Beach.

February 10, 2022

How is the I-64 Innovation Corridor becoming a Global Internet Hub? Global internet experts tell us that we have the right ingredients.

December 3, 2021

ChamberRVA, the Hampton Roads Chamber, and RVA757 Connects met to discuss the possibility of Richmond and Hampton Roads joining forces as one megaregion with the intention of becoming the next Global Internet Hub.

October 27, 2021

Global Internet experts behind Marseille, France’s success inspire attendees at the annual Convergence 2021 conference to make the Richmond-Hampton Roads megaregion the next Global Internet Hub.

October 1, 2021

CIVIC Leadership Institute and RVA757 Connects hosted a virtual event discussing the I-64 Innovation Corridor’s emerging Global Internet Hub status.

November 24, 2020

At White Oak Technology Park in eastern Henrico County, shovel loaders and trucks scurry about a series of huge and mostly windowless buildings called a data center that is owned by social media giant Facebook. It is part of a massive change in the economic landscape emerging in Virginia, which already supports about 80% of global Internet traffic.