Data Center Location: Why It Matters

In 2018, almost 2.5 quintillion bytes of data was created every day. Today, with the arrival of 5G, increased content streaming and remote business models, this number has already started to grow exponentially. As a result, infrastructure and computing thresholds are expanding rapidly to process this enormous growth of data generation – emphasizing the importance of strategic data center locations. 

From infrastructure design to security protocols and beyond, many considerations go into choosing the right data center – especially location. Your data center location is foundational to ensuring its infrastructure environment is optimized to work for you, not against you. Here are the top implications for strategic site selection:

Why Data Center Location Matters 

Connectivity

Your data center connectivity is only as strong as its available network service providers. Low latency connectivity is highly dependent on proximity to redundant fiber connections and telecom providers. The more options in closer proximity to your facility, the faster and more reliable your connectivity will be. 

Connectivity has a massive impact on user behavior. For example, we see this most effectively in today’s gig economy. With transportation, groceries and same-day deliveries available at the click of a button, users demand instant results. To make these snap connections, your data center needs unrivaled connectivity with low latency to the Internet and the cloud. 

Geographical Risks

As critical facilities, data centers face many internal and external threats daily. While security protocols can protect against cyber attacks and data breaches, choosing a location that has a lower risk for natural disasters and inclement weather is essential for uncontrollable situations. This means opting for locations outside of flood zones and fault lines, away from coasts and more.

Scalability

In order to keep up with the unprecedented growth in data and maintain proximity to customers,, many companies choose locations near high-populated cities for their data centers like Chicago, Dallas, the Bay Area, and east coast hubs like Northern Virginia and New York / New Jersey. While these are a few of the top data center markets in the country, an issue that many face is future scalability. 

Being in a densely populated area, there are often limited growth opportunities to scale your facility alongside your future needs. As a result, many providers move outside of city limits – allowing them to take advantage of the city’s vast connectivity options but also have more space for growth while maintaining critical low latency. 

Cost

When choosing the right data center location for your facility, it’s important to take into consideration the area’s tax incentives. For example, our latest project in Chicago caters to tech-driven tenants with monetary benefits for data center construction projects. These benefits come as a result of the state’s passing of a $45 billion capital bill containing specific data center incentives that make Illinois a top location. Many local and state governments provide unique cost savings for power, connectivity and more to give you competitive cost structures for your critical facility. 
While there’s a lot to consider when it comes to critical infrastructure, your data center’s location should be a top priority. At T5, our team of experts is ready to walk you through the site selection process one step at a time. To learn more, reach out to a T5 team member today or check out our latest project in Chicago to see if it’s a right fit for your business.