Wikimedia moving out of St. Pete
September 25, 2007 at 1:19 pm by Wayne GarciaDEVELOPING — Officials confirm that the six-employee offices of The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the online Wikipedia and other digital information products, will move out of St. Petersburg for San Francisco. A more detailed statement is expected later today.
Wikimedia Communications Director Sandy Ordonez said the nonprofit will keep its servers in Tampa. St. Pete is the home of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and the online info giants’ presence in Tampa Bay was a low-key feather in cap for the community’s emerging media and technology companies and headquarters. Wales was quoted last year in a New Yorker story that “St. Petersburg’s attractive housing prices lured him from California.”
Trib has short story here.
UPDATE: Ordonez says Wales is unreachable for comment but she released the following info about the move:
St. Petersburg has been a great home for us. Thanks to the support we have gotten from the Tampa Bay community, we have managed to become one of the top 10 websites in the world. Wikipedia’s main servers will remain in Tampa. Only our office will be moving.
San Francisco was chosen because it is the technology center of the United States. It also provides us with a more “centralized” world location. This important because, as an international organization, we have thousands of volunteers worldwide.
Since our servers will remain in Tampa, we still will still continue to maintain a strong presence in the area. We would like thank all the individuals and organizations in the area that have contributed to our success.
The last day for the office will be January 31, 2008
