Governor Bob McDonnell announced that Amazon Web Services, Inc., (AWS), an Amazon.com company, will expand in Fairfax County and add 500 new jobs to the county economy.

Launched in 2006, AWS (@awscloud) designs and offers IT infrastructure services to businesses and government customers in the form of cloud computing, including web hosting, application hosting, storage and backup, content delivery, and scalable database solutions.

The company plans to establish a new office in the Herndon area of Fairfax County to support IT engineering and services for commercial and government customers of AWS cloud services.

Amazon Web Services can take full advantage of the skilled workforce and technology community in Fairfax County, said Gerald L. Gordon, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA).

Teresa Carlson, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector, AWS, said the company looks forward to putting more than 500 Virginians to work in Fairfax County.

The FCEDA worked with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. McDonnell approved a $500,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Fairfax County with the project. Through its Virginia Jobs Investment Program, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance will provide funding and services to support company recruitment and training activities.