Cologix targets hyperscale data center customers with COLO-D acquisition

Interconnection and data center company Cologix says it has purchased Montreal-based data center services supplier COLO-D for an undisclosed sum. The move is part of Cologix’s strategy to expand beyond the traditional data center and interconnectivity market to address the needs of internet content providers (ICPs) and others who have hyperscale data center requirements. The company envisions combining traditional with new era services to better address legacy and new customer requirements.

Cologix has built its business on providing traditional data center and interconnection services, explains Bill Fathers, the company’s chairman and CEO. That generally has meant addressing the needs of a wide range of enterprises and verticals for connectivity and relatively small amounts of data center space and power. Facilities in downtown areas, close to telecom hotels, have served these needs well, despite the limitations in terms of space, power, and the expense of expansion. Conversely, hyperscale customers have large space and power requirements that change quickly, which means expansion must be easy, quick, and comparatively cheap. Such customers generally are willing to find the necessary connectivity to use these data center services themselves. COLO-D has aimed to meet such needs with a pair of hyperscale data center facilities in Montreal that offer 50 MW of power. According to the COLO-D website, its D1 facility offers 120,000 square feet of capacity; the D2 data center has 180,000 square feet.

Fathers says the acquisition extends the company’s own efforts to launch such “new era” facilities as well as combine the two business models to better serve both traditional and hyperscale customers. Traditional customers will appreciate more flexible access to space and power, while hyperscale customers won’t have to worry about finding connectivity to their data center space, Fathers explains. In this latter context, the combination of COLO-D and Cologix will offer access to more than 80 networks and direct on-ramps to such cloud services as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud.

Cologix has already built one such “hybrid” facility in Columbus, OH, and plans another in Ashburn, VA. The acquisition of COLO-D not only gives Cologix an immediate hyperscale-style presence in Montreal that complements the company’s seven other traditional facilities in the area, but provides expertise to help guide the Ashburn construction, Fathers says.

While he remains open to additional expansion, Fathers says the COLO-D integration and Ashburn construction will “be enough” for the present.

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