Digital Realty is building on its Connected Campus strategy in Atlanta, where it is adding 18,000 square feet of raised-floor colocation space in 250 Williams, a multi-tenant data center facility in downtown Atlanta.
The announcement helps build Digital Realty’s footprint in Atlanta, the leading data center market in the Southeast U.S. One of the key assets in Digital Realty’s acquisition of Telx was the primary carrier hotel in Atlanta, 56 Marietta, which was owned by Telx. It is one of the most connected buildings in the region and a major interconnection point for businesses and service providers in Atlanta.
Digital Realty has long specialized in selling wholesale data center space, in which a tenant leases a finished suite of “turn-key” raised-floor space. In recent years Digital Realty has begun to build business in colocation, in which tenants buy smaller amounts of space by the cabinet or cage. The Telx deal dramatically accelerates that process.
The “connected campus” is Digital Realty’s strategy to leverage its presence n the wholesale and colo markets. Big-city interconnection hubs like 56 Marietta tend to be cramped skyscrapers with limited room for the large footprints being sought by cloud providers.
For Digital Realty, the solution was to use fiber to “tether” larger data centers to the meet-me rooms (MMRs) in urban carrier hotels, where networks make physical connections.
Atlanta: Gateway to Southeast
That’s the case in Atlanta, where Digital Realty’s connected campus offers an internal network with more than 11,000 cross connects between more than 300 customers, including 150 cloud, IT infrastructure and network providers. By adding 18,000 square feet of colocation space through the expansion at 250 Williams, Digital Realty leverages its connectivity at 56 Marietta. The company says it is investing $22 million to add the new space.
“Atlanta is one of the country’s fastest-expanding tech markets,” said Liz Cruz, Associate Director at IHS Markit. “The additional data center capacity provided by this expansion will help fuel the region’s technology growth, and serve as an enabling factor in the city’s and its businesses’ ongoing financial success.”
The Atlanta metro area is home to more than 30 colleges and universities in addition to more than 13,000 technology companies, including leaders in financial services, transportation, healthcare IT, telecommunications and Internet security.
Eighty percent of the U.S. population lives within a direct two-hour flight of Atlanta, making it extremely convenient for data center providers and customers to visit.
“This expansion builds on our leadership in the southeast region, giving our customers new ways to connect, extend their reach and find new business opportunities,” said Chris Sharp, Digital Realty CTO. “We are extremely pleased to build on our existing footprint in Atlanta, and to continue growing our relationships and community in this growing technology center.”
Digital Realty owns and operates more than 150 properties covering more than 26 million square feet in 33 global metropolitan areas.
