Special Report

Dallas Data Center Market

Written by Rich Miller

brought to you by

© 2018, Data Center Frontier

 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Introduction
This report was prepared by Data Center Frontier, in conjunction with datacenterHawk.

ABOUT DATA CENTER FRONTIER ABOUT DATACENTERHAWK

http://datacenterfrontier.com http://www.datacenterhawk.com
Data Center Frontier charts the future of data datacenterHawk is a convenient “one-stop-shop” for
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thought leaders, we explain the importance of how center solutions using real-time capacity information,
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Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data to find information on the top Internet exchanges,
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Contents
Introduction................................................ 2 CyrusOne ................................................10
About Data Center Frontier............................ 2 Cyxtera...................................................10
About datacenterHawk................................. 2 DataBank ................................................11
Market Overview & Analysis .............................. 3 Digital Realty ...........................................11
What’s Hot About Dallas?............................... 4 EdgeCore ................................................12
Background & History................................... 4 Equinix ...................................................12
Trends in Demand.......................................... 5 Evocative ................................................13
Demand Characteristics................................. 5 Flexential ...............................................13
Trends in Supply............................................ 6 H5 COLO .................................................13
Downtown Dallas......................................... 6 IBM SoftLayer ...........................................13
Northern Suburbs ....................................... 6 iland ......................................................14
Other Projects in the Northern Suburbs.............. 7 INAP ......................................................14
Fort Worth ............................................... 7 QTS Data Centers.......................................14
Business Environment..................................... 8 RagingWire ..............................................15
Connectivity.............................................. 8 Skybox Datacenters ....................................15
Power...................................................... 8 Stream Data Centers ..................................15
Disaster Risk.............................................. 8 Sungard Availability Services .........................16
Economic Development and Incentives............... 9 T5 Data Centers ........................................16
Overview of Major Providers............................. 9 TierPoint .................................................16
Aligned Energy ........................................... 9 zColo .....................................................16
Ascent Data Centers .................................... 9 Customer Search Trends.................................17
Carrier-1 .................................................. 9 About Our Sponsor.........................................18
Cologix ...................................................10 Methodology...............................................19
Compass Data Centers .................................10 Methodology Example..................................19

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Market Overview & Analysis

The Dallas/Fort Worth region is one of the largest and most active data center markets in the United
States. It is currently experiencing a data center building boom, with hundreds of megawatts of potential
capacity in the pipeline. The Dallas market is benefiting from excellent power and fiber infrastructure,
competitive economic incentives and robust competition among service providers.

Dallas is notable for the diversity of its data center A key question is whether Dallas will emerge as
ecosystem, with strong demand for retail colocation, a leading market for hyperscale data centers, the
wholesale data center space, powered shell and huge facilities that house the IT operations of
build-to-suit projects. The market is boosted by the largest cloud platforms, social networks and
its location in the center of the country, and sees Internet companies. Demand in Dallas-Fort Worth
demand for space from multiple business verticals, has historically been driven by enterprise customers
including hosting and cloud players as well as and service providers, rather than the huge leases
enterprise customers in finance and energy. Dallas by cloud providers that have boosted activity in other
also benefits from the fact that the state of Texas major markets, particularly Northern Virginia.
operates its own power grid, isolating it from power
Will Dallas begin winning hyperscale projects?
outages from other regional interconnection markets.
This is a matter of debate among industry veterans
The Dallas area is home to 2.99 million square feet with experience in the Dallas market, with some
(SF) of commissioned data center space, representing anticipating that larger hyperscale requirements are
334 megawatts (MW) of commissioned power, coming, while others believe that these expectations
according to market research from datacenterHawk. are premature. The answer to the “hyperscale
That makes Dallas the third-largest market for data question” will be a key factor in the data center
center capacity in the U.S., trailing only Northern absorption rate in Dallas, and the pace of growth
Virginia and Silicon Valley, and just ahead of Chicago. going forward.
In square footage, Dallas is the second-largest
The region’s data center capacity is spread across
market, slightly ahead of Silicon Valley. Demand for
several sub-markets, including major carrier hotels
space is fairly strong, as reflected in the vacancy rate
in downtown Dallas, a nexus of wholesale data centers
of 15.0 percent in the region.
in the “Telecom Corridor” in Richardson and northern
Dallas is currently the focus of a data center building suburbs. The current hot spot for new development is
boom, with most of the industry’s major wholesale Garland, where city-owned power and the availability
data center providers adding capacity and creating of land is creating a growing cluster of wholesale
multi-building campuses for future growth. There data center providers. To the West, there is a growing
was 50 MW of available power capacity at the cluster in Fort Worth featuring a Facebook data
close of 1Q of 2018, with an additional 11 MW under center campus and a huge new project led by
construction. In addition, there is a whopping T5 Data Centers.
570 MW of additional capacity in the planning stages,
indicating a strong expectation of growth.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Over the past two years, the Dallas market has location, affordable real estate prices, and good
emerged as a focus of significant investment by tax incentives. The Dallas area in particular has a
leading players in the data center industry. This diversified labor force, with strong growth recently
includes new ownership and strategic focus impacting from the technology and services industries.
major carrier hotels in downtown Dallas, the entry
In the first quarter of 2018, the DFW market saw job
of new players in Dallas suburbs, and significant
growth of 3.7%, slightly ahead of the pace of job
expansions by existing providers.
growth across the rest of the state (3.5%) and the
United States overall (2.3%), according to data from
the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In addition, the
What’s Hot About Dallas? Dallas market’s unemployment rate is currently 3.6%
and has been steadily declining since 2009.
The Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) data center
market has grown steadily over the past BACKGROUND & HISTORY
five years. Demand in this market often The early growth of DFW’s data center market was
originates from companies with a large focused in downtown Dallas. Because the central
presence in the area. However, many business district is rich in telecommunication
companies outside the area find the Dallas infrastructure, several large office buildings were
market appealing, and service providers retrofit for data center use, most prominently the
report a growing percentage of requirements Infomart Dallas, 2323 Bryan Street and the former
from outside the region. Dallas is emerging Federal Reserve Building. These buildings typically
as a data center destination due to five attract smaller colocation customers, along with
key attributes: telecommunications companies.
1. Favorable Business Environment
DFW is home to over 100,000 businesses,
with an economy that expanded 5.7% last Most colocation providers in the DFW
year (the seventh best in the United States). market are choosing to construct new
2. Competitive Colocation/Cloud Ecosystem facilities instead of retrofitting existing
A large number of qualified operators buildings worthy of conversion.
deliver facilities, services, and expertise
to the many companies in the region who
outsource their information technology (IT) As the colocation market grew significantly in
infrastructure. 2009 and 2010, these companies expanded beyond
3. Reasonable Power Cost downtown. An obvious expansion route was the
Compared to other primary data center northern suburbs of Dallas, which boomed during the
markets, electricity in the DFW area is 1990s when the “Telecom Corridor” attracted dozens
relatively inexpensive. of leading companies in the telecom, software and
4. R
 obust Infrastructure semiconductor sectors. This area was hit hard during
The region’s electrical and the dot-bust of 2001 to 2003, but has seen a new
telecommunications infrastructure is both round of growth as Dallas has emerged as a hotbed
dense and diverse. for hosting and colocation.
5. Tax Abatement Incentives Cities like Richardson, Plano, Carrollton, Allen
The State of Texas passed legislation in 2013 and Garland benefited from the growth by offering
to grant tax breaks for large colocation and sites and buildings with expansion opportunities.
enterprise users. In addition, most colocation providers in the DFW
market are choosing to construct new facilities
instead of retrofitting existing buildings worthy
Over the last three years, Dallas/Fort Worth of conversion.
has drawn large corporate relocations. Most
companies go to Texas due to the state’s central

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Trends in Demand
The Dallas data center market experienced about statistics from the US Census Bureau, companies
5 MW of absorption in the first quarter of 2018. We operating in DFW’s three largest counties accounted
anticipate this number will be larger in 2018 on a for 21.6% of all employers in Texas.
quarterly basis, as several transactions are pending
The area is home to the corporate headquarters of
that could take some of the existing commissioned
eighteen Fortune 500 companies including Exxon
power off the market.
Mobil, JC Penney, AT&T, Texas Instruments, and
From a demand perspective, Dallas averages others. A portion of the data center activity in DFW
approximately 20 MW of net new growth per year. has come from companies upgrading aged data center
The first quarter results have kept pace, positioning infrastructure within an owned facility. Instead of
the market for growth should these larger deals reinvesting in the existing operation, many of those
materialize. companies have chosen to house their infrastructure
with colocation providers, fueling demand. This trend
One of the primary factors driving Dallas absorption
is pervasive across all major markets.
is the healthy economy and the growing list of large
businesses, which generates data center demand. Enterprises that have data centers in primary coastal
Smaller cloud requirements have also picked Dallas markets such as Northern California or New York City
over the past 12 months because of the competitive view Dallas as a logical location in the center of the
provider market and favorable economic situation, United States. In addition, the steady colocation
a key segment of the growing out-of-market demand. supply delivered over the past few years puts DFW
in a position to compete for large, national projects.
Larger colocation providers completed record
A significant amount of growth in the transaction sizes in Dallas over the past few years,
region can be directly tied to local business including deals as large as 10 MW of critical load.
growth. According to statistics from the The DFW market has been the beneficiary from the
US Census Bureau, companies operating growth of cloud computing as well. Cloud providers
in DFW’s three largest counties accounted like IBM Softlayer, Rackspace, and Verizon Terremark
(now Equinix) have placed their infrastructure with
for 21.6% of all employers in Texas.
larger colocation providers. For instance, at Digital
Realty’s 68-acre Richardson campus, more than
DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS 20 MW of the delivered 35 MW are apportioned to
growing cloud providers. It’s anticipated this trend
The Dallas market is distinctive for its versatility.
will continue, as data center users further embrace
While many regional clusters are driven by one or
cloud computing and cloud providers rely on larger
two key business verticals, data center demand in
colocation providers for infrastructure support.
Dallas is fed by a broad range of industries, and a
blend of global and local customers. The arrival of a massive Facebook data center in
Fort Worth suggests the region is ripe for larger
Dallas benefits from its location, which is attractive
requirements, as hyperscalers often create clusters
to companies seeking data center space in the
of cloud campuses in regions with favorable
center of the U.S. to maintain good latency to all
economics. Several providers have landed 2 MW
areas of the country. The state of Texas also has
to 4 MW deals with cloud platforms.
an independent energy grid (ERCOT), which was
attractive to companies seeking disaster recovery One reason that Dallas has been slow to emerge
capabilities, especially in the wake of the 2003 East as a hyperscale market is the early decision by
Coast blackout, which was exacerbated by outages Microsoft to focus its central cloud region in San
that rippled across interconnected grids in the Antonio, rather than Dallas. Microsoft has deployed
Northeast. a company-built data center in San Antonio, and
also reportedly signed several large wholesale deals
A significant amount of growth in the region can be
at CyrusOne facilities in San Antonio.
directly tied to local business growth. According to

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 Dallas Data Center Market
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Trends in Supply
The data center development activity in the Dallas Equinix with control of the real estate supporting
region suggests growing confidence in the future their growth (something they previously did not
growth of demand in the Greater Dallas market. have), as well as the ability to expand with a new
As we noted in our overview, datacenterHawk building next to the current facility.
is tracking 570 MW of additional capacity in the
Expansion plans were developed by Infomart’s
planning stages in the Dallas market. Only Northern
previous ownership, but Equinix has the capability
Virginia (900 MW) has more capacity in the planning
to deploy capital more aggressively to capture
stages, while about 500 MW of capacity is being
growth opportunities. This brings a new dynamic
planned in Greater Phoenix.
to the Downtown market, where the other leading
It’s important to note that the majority of the active players are the Digital Realty carrier hotel at 2323
developers in Dallas are experienced operators who Bryan Street (also known as the Univision Tower), and
know the market and have experience with phased the DataBank building, the former Federal Reserve
construction projects that manage capital (and risk) Bank site at 400 South Akard. Digital Realty owns the
as they bring new capacity to market. building, where the primary tenant is Digital Bridge,
which acquired DataBank (the service provider)
This is clearly seen in the wave of wholesale
in 2016. DataBank has focused its expansion efforts
campuses that are either underway or in the planning
on the Dallas suburbs.
stages in the northern suburbs of Dallas. RagingWire,
Digital Realty, CyrusOne, EdgeCore, Compass,
NORTHERN SUBURBS
Stream and Skybox all have multi-building campuses
underway. Meanwhile, T5 and IPI are planning a There is a building boom going on in the suburbs,
400 MW project in Fort Worth. led by large REITs specializing in data center
development. These companies have acquired
The region’s data center capacity is spread across
large buildings, campuses and parcels of land,
several sub-markets, including major carrier hotels
providing them with plenty of runway to expand
in downtown Dallas, a nexus of wholesale data
over time through phased construction. This
centers in the “Telecom Corridor” in Richardson,
approach allows them to add capacity to keep
Plano, Garland and Allen. These northern suburbs are
pace with market demand, limiting the scope of
emerging as key to the region’s data center supply,
speculative development.
offering more land for the multi-building campuses
that developers covet. There’s an intriguing new player in town in EdgeCore,
a new wholesale provider led by former CoreSite CEO
Here’s a look at how the supply in the DFW Metroplex
Tom Ray, and backed by GIC, the sovereign wealth
breaks down.
fund for the government of Singapore.
DOWNTOWN DALLAS EdgeCore is preparing to build on a 33-acre site
in the east end of Richardson, in close proximity
The value of data center property in Downtown Dallas
to the RagingWire and Digital Realty campuses
was clearly established with Equinix’s $800 million
in Garland. The EdgeCore campus is designed
purchase of the Infomart building (1.6M SF), the
to accommodate five buildings and an on-site
premier carrier hotel and data hub. Equinix made the
substation. Each facility will include two main data
acquisition at approximately $500/SF. For comparison
halls, totaling approximately 180,000 SF and 32 MW
purposes, GI Partners purchased the One Wilshire
of commissioned power operating at a PUE of 1.25
building for $659 per square foot in 2013.
or better.
The Infomart deal represents not only Equinix’
New players with big plans can sometimes be
largest footprint in the region but the primary
disruptive to a market, creating the potential for
interconnectivity hub for the Southwest. The
oversupply or pricing wars. Ray’s experience at
Infomart houses multiple data center operators
CoreSite offers some reassuring history that the
with retail colocation environments, as well as
EdgeCore team understands these market dynamics.
several large office tenants. The purchase provides

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 Dallas Data Center Market
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OTHER PROJECTS IN THE NORTHERN the ability to add as many as three additional
SUBURBS buildings on the property.
▶▶ Digital Realty continues to build out its 70-acre ▶▶ Compass Datacenters has completed the first
Digital Dallas campus in Richardson, with eight data center on its campus in Allen, with capacity
buildings completed and more on the way. Much for several more. The facility is occupied by
of the space at Data Center Park-Dallas has been Tierpoint.
leased by cloud computing service providers. In Plano, Aligned Data Centers is continuing to fill
The newest phase is a multi-story 340,000 the first phase of a planned 30-megawatt facility,
square foot structure that will use at least while Skybox Data Centers has completed the first
24 of Digital’s turn-key data center halls (known building on its Legacy One campus. Equinix opened
as “pods”). Digital Realty has also procured its DA7 colocation facility in March, and Ascent just
land in Garland for a $1 billion, 150 MW campus announced a new wholesale data center.
featuring three 50 MW data centers.
It’s anticipated that pricing will remain aggressive in
▶▶ CyrusOne purchased land in Allen in 2Q 2017
the DFW market given the amount of supply and new
with grand plans - the campus can hold
companies that are entering the market.
three buildings and provide up to 99 MW of
commissioned power. The site provides CyrusOne FORT WORTH
with development runway, and the realistic
ability to serve both enterprise and hyperscale Fort Worth is about 30 miles West of Downtown
customer requirements. The first 79,000 SF of Dallas, and has emerged as a sub-market to watch
commissioned space and 6 MW of commissioned in the wake of Facebook’s decision to build a data
power is set to go live in 2Q 2018. CyrusOne is center campus in the Alliance Gateway business
also leasing at the final phase of its huge facility park. Facebook announced its plans in 2015, and has
in Carrollton. gradually expanded its ambitions. The company now
plans five data center buildings, which will make Fort
▶▶ RagingWire Data Centers has completed the first
Worth one of its largest U.S. data center campus.
of five interconnected data centers (a 230,000
SF facility called the TX1 Data Center, designed As often happens, other data center projects have
for large scale deployments) that it has planned followed. In early 2017, QTS Data Centers announced
for its new 42-acre Garland campus. Each data the acquisition of a Health Care Service Corporation
center will offer 16 MW of capacity, for a total data center immediately north of the Facebook
of 80 MW across 1 million SF. RagingWire is campus through a sale-leaseback. The QTS property
owned by NTT, which has the financial strength, has space to construct another 300,000 SF and 60 MW
and the credit rating, to play at scale. of data center space on the 53-acre property.
▶▶ Stream Data Centers has acquired 23 acres in In October 2017, T5 Data Centers announced plans
Garland for a new campus that will support for a 400-megawatt project distributed across parcels
400,000 square feet of space, commencing of land north of the Facebook site. T5@Alliance is
with a 140,000 SF first phase. being created by T5 and IPI Data Center Partners,
▶▶ DataBank recently delivered the first data hall an investment fund backed by the deep pockets of
in their Plano Legacy facility, which adds 1.5 MW Silicon Valley wealth management firm Iconiq and
of commissioned power to the available market. Iron Point Partners. The project will occupy at least
DataBank purchased the facility from Stream 350 acres within the AllianceTexas business park
in 2Q 2017, and is now marketing the site. The operated by Hillwood and the Perot family.
facility will support 9 MW when fully delivered.
The availability of renewable energy options is
▶▶ QTS Data Centers also has plenty of room to crucial to the DFW region’s aspirations to emerge as
grow in the DFW market. The QTS Dallas facility a player in hyperscale deals. Facebook’s Fort Worth
in Las Colinas is a 700,000 square foot former data center campus is supported by 200 MW of wind
semiconductor fab, with an 8 MW installation power generated in Clay County.
by a large cloud provider. The company has

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Business Environment
Demand in the DFW market often originates
from companies with a large presence in the
area. However, many companies outside the
area evaluating the DFW market find it appealing.
Data center users find the Dallas/Fort Worth
market attractive for a variety of factors.
Here’s an overview:

CONNECTIVITY
Multiple carriers’ fiber networks blanket the
DFW Metroplex connected to a robust last-mile
infrastructure. Alpheus (a regional fiber provider
based in Texas), CenturyLink, Cogent, EarthLink,
FiberLight (another regional player based in Atlanta, The State of Texas introduced competitive electric
GA), Level 3, Sprint, Verizon, Windstream, and XO markets in 2002, creating a system where electric
all serve the Metroplex. Long-haul fiber from multiple generation and supply is a retail business competing
carriers connect the urban centers of both Ft. Worth for customers while the transmission — often the
and Dallas. Telecom giant AT&T relocated their world incumbent owners of power lines — remains heavily
headquarters to downtown Dallas in 2008 and the regulated. The confluence of a competitive market,
company’s long-haul fiber is prevalent in DFW. AT&T the abundance of in-state power sources (notably
fiber runs through the Alliance Airport area (home to natural gas), and a standalone power grid have driven
the new Facebook data center) south to downtown power costs in the Dallas/Fort Worth market down
Fort Worth, then west to downtown Dallas, and over the past few years. This low-cost power makes
winds up into the northern suburbs of Carrollton and DFW more competitive, attracting both regional and
Lewisville - an area with several large colocation national transactions.
data centers. To the east in Dallas’ northern suburbs On the renewable energy front, Texas has a
of Richardson and Plano, enterprise-grade fiber growing supply of wind energy, which accounted
infrastructure attracted the majority of DFW’s new for 18 percent of the electricity generated in Texas
data center construction in the past five years. during 2017, up from 10 percent in 2015. The
availability of renewable energy options is crucial
POWER to the DFW region’s aspirations to emerge as a player
Texas is unique in that it is decoupled from the in hyperscale deals.
interconnected power grids serving the eastern Due to its intermittent nature, wind energy can be
and western United States. Among the contiguous challenging to integrate into power grids. Texas has
48 states, Texas is the only one that has a standalone some advantages on this front, as it has an abundant
electric grid entirely within the state. This supply of natural gas plants, which can adjust their
means that with few exceptions, Texas produces power output more quickly than coal-fired plants.
the electricity consumed within its borders and
therefore is not subject to the Federal Power Act, DISASTER RISK
a Depression-era law where the Federal Power
Despite being relatively free of natural disasters,
Commission oversees all interstate electricity sales.
new entrants to the Dallas/Fort Worth market can
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT),
sometimes worry about tornado risk. In addition,
a nonprofit corporation governed by a board of
small earthquakes that have rattled the market
directors and subject to oversight by the Public
recently have raised safety concerns. Data center
Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature,
providers in DFW know to address these concerns
is responsible for managing 90% of the electricity in
by designing facilities that meet building codes and
the state of Texas.
withstand seasonal bouts of high-powered winds.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INCENTIVES

Texas legislators passed a bill in 2013 to eliminate
taxes paid on qualifying hardware and software
purchases for data centers. While the exemption does
not cover local sales taxes on purchases, data center
owners/operators/occupants are 100% exempt from
the 6.25% state sales and use taxes for up to fifteen
years on electricity consumption and equipment
purchases. This exemption includes purchases of
servers, generators, storage devices, software, and
other systems necessary for data center operations.
To qualify for an exemption, the data center must:
▶▶ Total 100,000 SF of gross building area
▶▶ Achieve a capital investment of $200+ million
over a five-year period
▶▶ Create at least twenty permanent jobs
for locals
▶▶ Pay wages equivalent to 120% of the
national average

Overview of Major Providers

ALIGNED ENERGY In Q2 2016, Ascent purchased a 45,000 SF data center
in Plano previously occupied by an enterprise user.
Aligned Energy offers consumption-based pricing
The hardened facility is currently equipped with
for on-demand data center capacity to enterprises,
2.7 MW of commissioned power and can be expanded
service providers, and governments. The company
to 7.2 MW. Ascent intends to invest $90 million in
operates a 30 MW data center with a total of 300,000
the project.
SF at 2800 Summit Avenue in Plano, a suburb north
of Dallas. After completing the initial construction in CARRIER-1
November of 2015, the company delivered the first
two 12,000 SF data halls and 5 MW of critical load. Carrier-1 is a colocation company headquartered in
As of Q3 2016, Aligned has completed several large Dallas, TX. The company’s executive team comes
leases, including a 12-year lease with Cyberverse. with extensive experience in the data center market,
They have also partnered with Plexxi, in order to working with companies like CoreXchange and The
increase their flexibility with data center capacity, Planet. As of 1Q 2018, Carrier-1 has delivered nearly
as well as networking. In 1Q 2017, Aligned’s Plano 30,000 SF data center space with over 2.5 MW of
data center was awarded Tier III design and built critical power available. The first 1 MW, 10,000
certification by the Uptime Institute. Aligned is SF data hall has been fully leased, with another
continuing to pursue leasing opportunities in the identical hall and several private suites currently
market today. available. The facility has the capacity to handle an
additional 40,000 SF of data center space and 4.0 MW
ASCENT DATA CENTERS of critical power. The UPS infrastructure has been
constructed to an N+1 standard while the generators
Ascent is a data center solutions provider located
are N+2. In addition, the facility provides over 30,000
in St. Louis, MO. Founded in 1998, Ascent’s client
of office and support space.
list includes several Fortune 500 companies
and primarily serves the technology, financial,
healthcare, telecommunications, pharmaceutical,
and other industries.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

COLOGIX for $525 million. CyrusOne went public in Q1 2013,

steadily growing through both construction of new
Cologix is a colocation provider with a footprint in
data center facilities in top markets and strategic
multiple U.S. and Canadian markets. The Denver-
acquisitions of rivals. For example, in July 2015,
based firm delivers colocation, network, and
CyrusOne acquired Cervalis to gain four data center
interconnection services. The company’s growth
facilities serving the New York metropolitan area.
strategy is based on acquiring data centers in
strategic, densely-connected markets. In 1Q After going public, CyrusOne relocated their
2017, Cologix was acquired by private equity firm corporate headquarters to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners. Stonepeak intends In 2011, they purchased a former warehouse space
to invest $500 million to expand Cologix’s presence at 1649 West Frankford Road in the Dallas suburb
in the data center and communications industries. of Carrollton, and have since been developing data
center infrastructure within the massive building.
The Cologix Dallas facility is housed at the Infomart
CyrusOne’s data halls in 1649 West Frankford are
Dallas, the city’s largest carrier hotel. Their 12,000
approximately 55,000 SF of data center space with
SF data center at the Infomart Dallas opened in 2012
4.5 MW to 9.0 MW of critical IT load available.
and can house up to 300 cabinets. It’s their second
The operator has recently delivered the fifth data
data center within the Infomart Dallas.
hall at the facility and is actively pursuing tenants
for the new capacity.
Compass Data Centers’ product, which is In 2Q 2017, CyrusOne announced their purchase of
typically constructed as 10,000 SF of data a 65-acre campus in Allen. The campus will be built
center space and 1.2 MW, can be built out in phases, with a 350,000 SF Phase I, 620,000 SF
Phase II, and 412,000 SF Phase III, totaling over
anywhere, delivered in six months, and
1.3 million SF. CyrusOne began site work in 3Q 2017
is Tier III Designed and Certified by the in preparing to deliver their first facility on the site.
Uptime Institute. The company is hopeful they can have it online by
1Q/2Q 2018 and is designing the new campus to
attract attention from hyper-scale cloud providers.
COMPASS DATA CENTERS
Compass Data Centers is headquartered in Dallas, TX
and delivers data centers for customers throughout Cyxtera offers highly secure solutions
the United States. Their product, which is typically to meet strict requirements such as
constructed as 10,000 SF of data center space and those expected in financial and
1.2 MW, can be built anywhere, delivered in six
government entities.
months, and is Tier III Designed and Certified by the
Uptime Institute. This ensures customers the data
center purchased is the data center delivered. CYXTERA
In Q3 2016, Compass partnered with TierPoint When private equity firms BC Partners and Medina
to construct a new data center in Allen, Texas. Capital acquired CenturyLink’s colocation portfolio
Delivering 16,000 SF of raised floor as Phase I, in 2017, they combined the assets gained to create
the facility will total 90,000 SF at full buildout. a brand new company called Cyxtera Technologies.
The data center was delivered in Q2 2017. Cyxtera is a global colocation business with 57 data
centers in more than 30 markets. The company offers
CYRUSONE highly secure solutions to meet strict requirements
CyrusOne is a global colocation company head- such as those expected in financial and government
quartered in Dallas, TX. They have 40 data center entities. Cyxtera Technologies is headquartered
facilities throughout the United States, Europe and out of Coral Gables, Florida and is comprised of
Asia. The company’s strong customer relationships Cryptzone, Catbird, Easy Solutions, and Brainspace
with Fortune 1000 data center users made them to offer a reliable and cloud-ready infrastructure
an attractive acquisition for Cincinnati Bell in 2010 platform for more than 3,500 customers.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Originally built for Exodus Communications,

Cyxtera’s Dallas/Fort Worth data center at 14901 Digital Realty has grown to over
FAA Boulevard is a robust facility minutes away from 180 locations across five continents
DFW International Airport. The 265,000 SF building
after going public in 2004; leveraging
houses two separate Cyxtera data centers (DL1 and
DL2). Each data center has redundant power feeds economies of scale to measurably
from TXU Energy, with approximately 24 MW total benefit customers. Digital Realty delivers
utility power delivering a minimum power density of colocation, powered shell, private suite,
150 W/SF. In 4Q 2017, Cyxtera improved their cloud
and custom data center solutions.
connectivity services in Dallas with the addition of
Megaport, providing a private, secure connection
to user’s cloud environments. DIGITAL REALTY
Digital Realty (DLR) is a real estate investment trust
In 2016, DataBank was acquired by Digital (REIT) and the largest wholesale data center provider
Bridge, an investment firm focused on in the world. The company has grown to over 180
locations across five continents after going public in
expanding wireless communications 2004; leveraging economies of scale to measurably
companies, as their first venture into benefit customers. Digital Realty delivers colocation,
the data center industry. Digital Bridge powered shell, private suite, and custom data center
intends to expand DataBank’s data solutions. In July 2015, Digital Realty acquired Telx,
a New York-based company offering colocation,
center portfolio.
interconnection and access, for $1.89 billion. The
Telx acquisition expanded and expedited Digital
DATABANK Realty’s ability to provide integrated services for
SMB-to-enterprise customers.
DataBank is a data center company with a presence
in six markets in the United States. In 2016, DataBank Digital Realty is the largest data center provider in
was acquired by Digital Bridge, an investment firm the Dallas/Fort Worth market. While their presence
focused on expanding wireless communications covers multiple locations, DLR’s Data Center Park-
companies, as their first venture into the data center Dallas facility at 850 East Collins in Richardson,
industry. Digital Bridge intends to expand DataBank’s TX is the biggest. Anchored by an on-site private
data center portfolio. substation, this 68-acre campus serves financial,
technology, cloud, and managed hosting companies.
DataBank has two facilities in the Dallas/Fort Worth
Digital Realty recently delivered and leased all of
market. One data center is located in downtown
907 Security Row, a 138,000 SF, seven-pod data
Dallas in the former Federal Reserve building at
center. They will increase the density of each
400 South Akard. After recently completing a
pod up to 1.6 MW. In 2016, Digital announced the
transaction downtown, they expanded and now
development of 1210 Integrity Way, a 455,000 SF,
have 10,000 SF of data center space and 1 MW
three-story data center located directly next to
of critical power available.
907 Security Way. The building is master-planned for
The company’s second DFW data center is a 50,000 36 pods, making it the largest building Digital Realty
SF facility in Richardson with 40,000 SF of data has developed in the Dallas market. As of 1Q 2018,
center space. After success in selling their first three Digital Realty has delivered over 145,000 SF and
pods, DataBank announced in 1Q 2016 they are 12 MW of critical capacity at 1210 Integrity, with
under construction with their fourth data hall at the the ability to add 193,000 SF based on demand.
facility. Each pod delivers 1.5 MW in critical IT load.
Digital Realty’s ownership of the Convergence campus
In 2Q 2017, DataBank announced their purchase of in Lewisville, TX offers users an additional land site
Stream’s data center currently under construction development opportunity. In 2012, DLR purchased the
in the Legacy area of Plano. The 145,000 SF facility campus for $123 million and operated it ever since.
features 60,000 SF of white space, with the ability CyrusOne and several other enterprise users operate
to double capacity in the future. data centers at Convergence.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Digital Realty’s acquisition of Telx netted an

Internet Exchange at 8435 Stemmons Freeway. Equinix, a California-based company,
Located on the second floor, Telx operates a has over 180 data centers in 44 markets
20,000 SF data center in a 230,700 SF eleven-story
building. The N+1 infrastructure was built to support
throughout the world, with access to over
approximately 1,040 kW of UPS capacity. Digital 450+ cloud providers in their portfolio.
Realty also took over a Telx location at 2323 Bryan
Street in downtown Dallas, a building they own.
EQUINIX
In 4Q 2016, Digital Realty announced the purchase
of 48 acres of land in Garland. The $17 million Equinix is a global data center company providing
purchase will ultimately support up to 960,000 SF of colocation, interconnection, and connectivity
new data center space. When the Richardson campus services to users. The California-based company has
is complete, Digital intends to break ground on the over 180 data centers in 44 markets throughout the
new campus. In 4Q 2017, Digital Realty announced world, with access to over 450+ cloud providers in
the purchase of a new land site in Garland, adjacent their portfolio. Equinix operates their data centers
to their existing Garland site. under the International Business Exchange (IBX)
product name. The IBX system enables Equinix’s
In 2Q 2017, Digital Realty successfully executed a partners and users to leverage a scalable, globally-
lease from a large cloud provider for the second connected technology platform for application,
40,000 SF data hall at 1210 Integrity. The company managed service, and information delivery.
is currently under construction with the third 40,000
SF data hall that will deliver 6 MW of commissioned Equinix pricing is typically higher due to the
power when completed. ecosystems created in Equinix facilities and access
to cloud and connectivity services. In North America,
Equinix revenues come from colocation and telecom
EdgeCore is a national provider of Tier III interconnections while a mix of colocation and
designed data center solutions. Their managed infrastructure services bring in more
large-scale approach coupled with diverse revenues for the rest of the world.
cloud connections make their facilities In 1Q 2018, Equinix announced their plans to
an ideal candidate for enterprise and purchase the Infomart building in Downtown Dallas,
a 1.6 million SF carrier hotel, for $800 million. The
hyperscale users.
majority of Equinix’s DFW footprint lies within the
Infomart, where it operates four data halls. Perhaps
EDGECORE the biggest differentiator with Equinix’s Dallas
footprint is they contain over 100 network providers,
EdgeCore is a national provider of Tier III designed offering direct connectivity to quality cloud and
data center solutions. Founded in 2017, EdgeCore content services. The Dallas Equinix facility is a
has plans to develop campuses in Dallas, Phoenix, major peering network exchange for the southern
and Reno by the end of 2018. Each campus is United States.
designed to accommodate over 100 MW of critical
capacity. Their large-scale approach coupled with In 3Q 2015, Equinix announced an expansion in
diverse cloud connections make their facilities an Plano, TX with T5 Data Centers. A lead tenant pushed
ideal candidate for enterprise and hyperscale users. Equinix to expand into the large facility and they
will be the only data center colocation provider in
EdgeCore’s Dallas campus is located in Richardson, the facility. Both Thomson Reuters and T-Mobile also
less than a mile from RagingWire and Digital Realty’s have a large presence at the data center. In 1Q 2016,
Garland campuses. EdgeCore plans to build five Equinix delivered DA7, a 38,000 SF of data center
data centers on the campus, totaling approximately space and 4 MW of critical power. Equinix also holds
160 MW of commissioned power and 700,000 SF of the right to develop a larger data center on the land
commissioned space. Each 32 MW, 140,000 SF data directly next to the facility, which is currently owned
center will be fed by an on-site substation and by T5 Data Centers. This is their first expansion in the
operate at a PUE of 1.25 or better. DFW market outside of the downtown Dallas area.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

EVOCATIVE In 4Q 2016, Flexential delivered their newest facility

in Plano. The data center will operate 148,000 SF
Evocative is an IT solutions provider based in
of high density raised floor at full build, with a
Emeryville, CA that focuses on providing colocation
projected PUE of 1.3.
and cloud services to customers in the Western
United States. The company’s roots date to 1996, H5 COLO
with new ownership in 2017. Evocative currently
operates a handful of data centers located in H5 COLO is a Dallas-based provider of fault-tolerant
California, Nevada, Phoenix, and Dallas, and IT infrastructure for a wide variety of industries and
specializes in meeting the varied infrastructure needs clients. The company operates a secure, carrier-
of small and midsized enterprises. In 2017, Evocative neutral, and purpose-built SSAE 16 Type 2-compliant
acquired two California facilities from 365 Data facility with an onsite network operations center and
Centers, increasing its geographical footprint and in-house engineering teams.
pool of available resources. In 1Q 2018, Evocative H5 COLO’s data center on the second floor (four story
purchased Cyberverse, adding three data centers to building) of 12712 Park Central in Dallas is blocks
their portfolio. Among the purchased facilities was from the “High Five” freeway interchange, a prime
Cyberverse’s 600 kW leased space inside Aligned’s location to reach both downtown Dallas and growing
Dallas data center in Plano. data center clusters in the city’s northern suburbs.
The H5 COLO facility is designed to deliver 200 W/SF
with N+1 redundancy for the UPS, power, and cooling
Founded in 2000 as Peak 10, Flexential infrastructure.
concentrates on managed cloud services
such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS) IBM SOFTLAYER
and disaster. SoftLayer, purchased by IBM in 2013, is a Dallas-
based global cloud infrastructure company, which
has focused on high-performance server hardware
FLEXENTIAL and a unified, software-defined networking platform
Flexential provides cloud computing, data center, to provide managed enterprise server hosting,
and other scalable technology infrastructure networking, and cloud computing services. SoftLayer
solutions and managed services, primarily for mid- has a unique pay-as-you-go model, allowing users
market businesses. The company is headquartered in to spin up a server for a month for free. Currently,
Charlotte, NC and has a growing data center footprint SoftLayer has 13 North American locations as well as
in the southeastern corner of the United States. multiple international sites.
Founded in 2000 as Peak 10, Flexential concentrates
on managed cloud services such as infrastructure
as a service (IaaS) and disaster. In 3Q 2017, Peak 10
SoftLayer has a unique pay-as-you-go
completed their acquisition of ViaWest, giving the model, allowing users to spin up a server
company a portfolio spanning 40 data centers across for a month for free.
20 different markets. In 1Q 2018, the combined
companies rebranded as Flexential.
Flexential has a presence in downtown Dallas and In 2010, SoftLayer consolidated much of their data
Richardson, TX. Their downtown facility, located at center operations in the DFW market into the Digital
the Infomart Dallas, is 100% leased. Flexential data Realty Data Center Park campus. The majority of
center in Richardson, located at 3010 Waterview, is SoftLayer operates six data centers in DFW: Dallas
approximately 80% full, with both shared and private 01, Dallas 02, Dallas 05, Dallas 06, Dallas 07, and
suites available. The building, which Flexential leases Dallas 09. All of these high-density data centers are
approximately 85,000 SF in, was purchased in 1Q configured for N+1 power and cooling infrastructure
2016 by GI Partners, a private equity firm out of San redundancy.
Francisco. There are several other tenants in the
facility as well.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

ILAND QTS DATA CENTERS

Privately-owned iland is a global cloud infrastructure QTS Realty Trust (QTS) has more than 20 data center
provider focusing on private and hybrid enterprise properties in the continental United States. The
cloud implementations. It delivers both colocation company traditionally finds large, robust facilities and
and managed cloud services over their eight strategic transforms them into LEED-certified data centers.
data center locations (five in North America, two in
In May 2015, QTS acquired Carpathia Hosting, a
Europe, and one in Asia).
competitor whose secure hybrid cloud solutions
and VMware partnership enhanced QTS’ ability
iland’s DFW data center is a key location to serve government agencies. QTS now operates
for iland to deliver their VMware-powered Carpathia’s eight domestic data centers spread over
five cities. Three cities in Virginia—Ashburn, Dulles,
Enterprise Cloud Service (IaaS), private and Harrisonburg—Phoenix, AZ, and San Jose, CA.
cloud infrastructure, and disaster recovery QTS also acquired Carpathia’s five international data
as a service solutions. centers located in Toronto, Amsterdam, London,
Hong Kong, and Sydney giving QTS its first globally-
connected network.
The iland cloud data center in DFW is located inside
the CyrusOne-owned 1649 W Frankford facility. This
enables iland to leverage up to 9 MW critical IT load QTS also acquired Carpathia’s five
and N+1 UPS power/N+1 and 2N emergency generator international data centers located in
configurations in the building. Their DFW data center Toronto, Amsterdam, London, Hong Kong,
is a key location for iland to deliver their VMware-
and Sydney giving QTS its first globally-
powered Enterprise Cloud Service (IaaS), private
cloud infrastructure, and disaster recovery as a connected network.
service solutions.
QTS is extremely active at their large facility at
INAP
6431 Longhorn Drive in Irving, a suburb halfway
INAP, formerly known as Internap, is a colocation between Ft. Worth and Dallas. The company bought
company headquartered in Atlanta, GA offering a 40-acre land site with a 700,000 SF semiconductor
colocation, cloud, and managed services in manufacturing plant in 2013 and is retrofitting it
15 markets. in phases for data center use. QTS delivered the
Their Dallas/Fort Worth facility is located in Plano, first two data halls of Phase 1 soon after, and one
TX. Internap converted the building, which was of which was fully leased by a technology company
previously a call center, into a 55,000 SF data center before delivery. The facility receives power from
at full build. With 10+ fiber providers to achieve two separate 138 kV utility feeds and has an on-site
carrier neutrality and 3 MW of critical IT load, substation. In 3Q 2017, QTS began expanding
customers looking for colocation and cloud services their campus in Irving. The expansion will include
continue to view Internap as a logical partner option. constructing an additional building on their Irving
site. Because QTS owns all 40 acres of the site,
In 3Q 2017, INAP announced the expansion of their they can build another 600,000 SF facility.
Dallas data center. The addition will add another
1+ MW pod. In 1Q 2018, INAP executed a lease In 1Q 2016, QTS announced the signing of a 4 MW
with an unnamed social media networking group. customer in their sixth data center hall in the Dallas
The group will lease capacity at INAP’s Dallas and facility. The current tenant also has an additional
Northern California data centers. 4 MW in the data center as well.
In 1Q 2017, QTS acquired a data center in Fort Worth
from HCSC in a sale-leaseback transaction. The
purpose-built 260,000 SF data center currently holds
40,000 SF of raised floor space, and is capable of
expanding up to 80,000 SF.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

RAGINGWIRE
Founded in 2000, RagingWire Data Centers was one
of the early entrants in data center colocation and
has earned a reputation for building and operating
mission critical data centers. The company currently
operates over 1.5 million SF of data center space
with 113 MW of power at its campuses in Ashburn,
Virginia; Dallas, Texas; and Sacramento, California.
Over the last three years, RagingWire has doubled
its capacity as its new wholesale designs have
garnered significant market acceptance. The
company is actively building across its data center
campuses and planning for growth in the top US data
center markets. has partnered with T5 Data Centers Facilities
Management, who provides facilities support and
The majority of RagingWire was acquired in 1Q 2014 operations management for their Houston facility.
by NTT Communications in an effort to expand their Skybox will continue to grow in other markets.
North America footprint. In 1Q 2018, NTT acquired
the remaining portion of RagingWire to achieve Skybox has completed a 14.4 MW, 150,000 SF
100% ownership. RagingWire remains a separate legal powered shell in the Plano market, which Skybox
entity with the financial backing of one of the largest chose due to the amount of corporate growth seen
companies in the world and a global portfolio of in the city and its surrounding suburbs.
140 data center in 20 countries.
STREAM DATA CENTERS
Stream Data Centers is a Dallas, TX-based data
Over the last three years, RagingWire has
center provider specializing in developing secure,
doubled its capacity as its new wholesale enterprise-grade facilities marketed to Fortune 500
designs have garnered significant market companies. Since its inception in 1999, Stream has
acceptance. acquired and developed more than 1.5 million square
feet of data center space, representing over 156
MW of power. Stream builds its data centers in three
RagingWire is currently developing a large campus in standard configurations. The private configurations
Garland, TX that can hold five buildings, one million are purpose-built facilities for either multi-tenant
SF, and 80 MW, on a 42-acre tract. In 2017 RagingWire or single-tenant data centers. The ready-to-fit
opened the 230,000 SF, 16 MW TX1 Data Center, with configurations are often large powered shell-style
customizable 1 MW, 2MW and 5 MW vaults available centers, and the build-to-suit configurations are
for lease. Power is supplied by Garland’s municipal customizable to meet the needs of the customer.
power company at the city’s cost (approximately
$.04 to $.05 per kW hour). In 1Q 2015, Stream sold its facility in Richardson to
TD Ameritrade. The facility, in close proximity to a
In 3Q 2017, RagingWire executed a 2 MW lease in Bank of America data center, is 73,320 SF.
the first hall at their TX1 facility. RagingWire also
announced its new Cloud Connect service, which In 1Q 2016, Stream announced the development of
gives users a direct, private connection to their a 210,000 SF powered shell building in the Legacy
cloud infrastructure. area of Plano. The company purchased 16 acres and
will develop the building to LEED Silver Certification.
SKYBOX DATACENTERS Stream previously developed a powered shell building
in Legacy that was purchased by a large enterprise
Skybox Data Centers is a data center development user in 2016.
company located in Dallas, TX. Founded in 2013,
the company is delivering data centers designed In 1Q 2017, Stream broke ground on the Legacy data
for enterprise users, specifically those with high center. In 2Q 2017, Stream announced the sale of the
performance computing requirements. The firm Legacy facility to DataBank. The data center will be
DataBank’s third facility in Dallas.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

SUNGARD AVAILABILITY SERVICES TIERPOINT

Sungard AS is a global data center provider offering TierPoint is a cloud, colocation, and managed
disaster recovery, cloud and managed hosting to services provider headquartered in St. Louis, MO.
customers. The company is also focused on providing The company’s national growth strategy is to acquire
services around application management, security operators of highly-redundant, carrier-neutral data
and compliance, and business continuity. centers in mostly underserved or secondary markets.
TierPoint’s largest acquisition to date was the
Sungard’s facility in Richardson, TX is a fully-leased,
$575 million purchase of an enterprise managed IT
75,000 SF building located in the Telecom Corridor.
services provider Windstream’s data center assets in
The facility contains 35,000 SF of data center space
October 2015. The Windstream acquisition increased
and is SSAE 16 SOC 1 Certified.
TierPoint’s data center footprint in major U.S.
T5 DATA CENTERS markets and enabled both companies to sell their
respective products and services to each other’s
T5 Data Centers is an experienced colocation customers through referrals.
developer headquartered in Atlanta, GA. T5 delivers
colocation, powered shells, and build to suit data Their facility in Dallas is a 68,000 SF retrofitted data
centers to enterprise clients across the United States. center to the west of downtown Dallas. TierPoint
Backed by solid financial partners, the company announced the delivery of its cloud infrastructure
has data centers in the following markets: Atlanta, as a service (IaaS) offering in Q3 2014.
Chicago, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Kings Mountain, In 3Q 2016, TierPoint partnered with Compass Data
Los Angeles, New York, Portland, and Dublin. Centers to construct a new data center in Allen.
T5’s Dallas facility is located in the northern suburb Delivering 16,000 SF of raised floor as Phase I, the
of Plano in the Legacy Business Park. Purchased facility will total 90,000 SF at full buildout. The data
from an enterprise user whose plans to convert the center was delivered in 2Q 2017.
purpose-built shell into a data center stalled in
2011, T5 leases the facility to users as wholesale
ZCOLO
colocation. The largest colocation transaction to date Boulder, CO-based zColo is a carrier-neutral data
in the DFW market was completed at this facility in center provider whose parent company, Zayo, is
2012. In August 2015, T5 Data Centers executed a a publicly-traded global provider of bandwidth
transaction with Equinix to take the final data hall, infrastructure services. zColo’s data center footprint
which also included the opportunity to expand on of 34 facilities extends to over twenty United States
land directly west of the facility. markets. In 2015, the company purchased Latisys, a
provider of hybrid Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
In 2Q 2016, T5 announced the purchase of a 9.0 acre
solutions for cloud and colocation customers, for
site directly adjacent to their existing Plano data
$675 million.
center. The new 156,000 SF data center will add an
additional 10.75 MW and 94,000 SF of commissioned zColo’s Dallas presence (at 2323 Bryan and in
space at full build. Construction began in 3Q 2016, the Infomart Dallas) was increased in 1Q 2014
and T5 is currently developing 2.15 MW. when they purchased CoreXchange, a colocation
company with facilities at 8600 Harry Hines and
In 4Q 2017, T5 delivered the first phase at their
1950 North Stemmons. zColo is continuing to sell
Dallas III data center. The data center offers 2.15 MW
into both buildings.
of critical capacity, with more to be added in phases.
In 1Q 2016, zColo purchased 1100 Empire from
Additionally, T5 announced their plans for a
Stream Data Centers. The 36,000 SF site provides
new multi-building campus on 400 acres in the
zColo with additional opportunities to grow in Dallas
AllianceTexas business park in Fort Worth. T5@
while also providing their users with increased
Alliance is being created by T5 and IPI Data Center
connectivity options tying back to both 1950 N
Partners, an investment fund backed by the deep
Stemmons and 2323 Bryan.
pockets of Silicon Valley wealth management firm
Iconiq and Iron Point Partners.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Customer Search Trends

Search trends at datacenterHawk provide insights into customer interest in the Dallas data center market.

The Search Market Graph displays the percentage Dallas is searched by colocation, cloud or site on a quarterly
basis; The search is performed by datacenterHawk registered and unregistered users.

The Market Solutions Graph displays the type of data centers (colocation, cloud or site) searched by percentage
in Dallas on a quarterly basis; The search is performed by datacenterHawk registered and unregistered users.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

About Our Sponsor

RagingWire’s Dallas TX1 Data Center, which was a finalist for the “World’s Most Beautiful Data
Center” award in an international contest.

RagingWire Data Centers

www.ragingwire.com
RagingWire was one of the early companies that helped to build what would one day
become a multi-billion dollar global industry — data center colocation.
The company was founded in the year 2000 to solve a problem – currently available
data center solutions were not enterprise grade. The RagingWire team set out to
design, build and operate world-class, cost-effective data centers in which multiple
tenants could have dedicated, secured deployments within a common facility. This
model of companies “co-locating” their computing systems in a data center eventually
became the data center colocation industry.
Over the years, the RagingWire colocation model has been refined and expanded to
deliver large scale, build-to-suit wholesale data center solutions as well as private
vaults, dedicated cages, and multi-rack deployments.
RagingWire is continuing to grow from coast to coast across the U.S. From the tech hub
of Silicon Valley to the fiber rich “Data Center Alley” in Northern Virginia, RagingWire is
planning to build state-of-the-art facilities in the top data center markets.
Currently, RagingWire has 113MW of critical IT load spread across 1.5 million square
feet of data center infrastructure in Ashburn, Virginia; Dallas, Texas; and Sacramento,
California with significant growth plans in these locations and other top North
American data center markets.
As a part of NTT (a $100 billion, 240,000-employee company), RagingWire is one of the
most financially strong data center providers, connecting its clients to one of the largest
data center platforms in the world with 140 data centers in 20 countries worldwide.

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 Dallas Data Center Market
SPECIAL REPORT

Methodology
datacenterHawk continuously monitors data center construction. Data Center Provider A leases one of
development and activity in 35 regional North the three data halls (1,200 kW/10,000 SF) to a user
American markets. Regional markets are placed and completes construction on the second data hall
into one of two categories: (1,200 kW/10,000 SF) to be ready for the next leasing
1. Primary — Data center markets with larger opportunity. The third data hall is in shell condition
number of colocation and cloud providers. and therefore considered “planned” space. The
These are in major cities with diverse business resulting datacenterHawk analysis of Data Center
sectors and large economies Provider A’s power and space capacity is shown in
the graphic below.
2. Secondary — Data center markets with smaller
number of colocation and cloud providers. In addition, the datacenterHawk analysis considers
These are in midsized cities with small-to- that many colocation and cloud providers lease
medium economies infrastructure from larger data center providers.
In datacenterHawk’s analysis, power, and space
Primary and Secondary data center market sizes are
leased from one data center provider to another
defined based on the total amount of power and
is counted only once. As an example, if the lease
space in the market. The total amount of power
completed by Data Center Provider A in the scenario
and space in each market is calculated based on
above was completed with Data Center Provider B
four key attributes:
with the intent to lease that 1,200 kW/10,000 SF of
1. The amount of commissioned power and space commissioned power and space to smaller customers,
2. The amount of available power and space the analysis would only include the 1,200 kW of
3. The amount of under construction power commissioned power and 10,000 SF of commissioned
and space space one time.
4. The amount of planned power and space These attributes in each market are tracked and
refreshed on a quarterly basis throughout the
METHODOLOGY EXAMPLE year. Through the continuous monitoring of these
Data Center Provider A builds a 75,000 gross square components, a baseline is calculated for each market
foot data center, with three separate data halls of that is used to measure market growth and deliver
1,200 kilowatts (kW) and 10,000 square feet (SF) the most current and valuable information needed.
of data center space each during a phased

datacenterHawk has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information provided.
However, the information is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. datacenterHawk does not accept
any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, or reliability of
the information provided.

© 2018, Data Center Frontier 19