PHOENIX—The Valley is rapidly growing into one of the nation's tech hubs. GlobeSt.com caught up with Michael Ortiz, associate vice president at Colliers International in Greater Phoenix, to get his take on the evolution of data centers in Metro Phoenix.

GlobeSt.com: What is the impact of Arizona legislation in the data center market?

Ortiz: Arizona passed its data center legislation S.B. 2009, signed by Governor Brewer on June 19, 2013, with a diversified approach which uniquely appealed to medium and larger scale end users of mission critical facilities as well as data center developers. The data center incentive program would in fact level the playing field for those who sought alternatives to markets such as Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon and Nevada and marked the evolution of the Phoenix data center market where, today, it has grown to become one of fastest growing technology markets in the U.S. Arizona now ranks among the top ten markets for data centers, according to 451 Research. Recent entrants to the market from the likes of Weebly, Zenefits and Aligned Energy validate Arizona's emergence as a tech leader is here to stay.