We recently caught up with Pete Abel, Senior Vice President, Marketing Channel Sales at TierPoint to discuss the current state of the cloud and the data center industry. What we found is that TierPoint is much more than a colocation provider for business and enterprise clients. The company is rapidly evolving with technology to help clients navigate everything from hybrid IT and private cloud to colocation, disaster recovery, hyperscale computing, cybersecurity, and managed services.How has TierPoint grown since its founding in 2010?Weve grown both organically by selling our colocation, cloud, and managed services to new and current customers and through acquisitions, completing 11 between 2010 and 2016. Today, we operate as one company, leveraging common systems, platforms, and processes for the benefit of our clients.How is TierPoint different than other colocation providers?In a marketplace where more of our data center competitors are moving away from cloud and managed services shifting their emphasis to colocation and interconnection were still the leading provider of hybrid or mixed IT solutions, with a comprehensive suite of services that bridge the colocation, cloud and managed service worlds. We believe this hybrid IT strategy combined with being a trusted adviser in a rapidly changing environment will continue to drive our distinctive position and growth. Were the only true, hybrid IT provider with a national footprint, and were in markets that are starting to see the benefits of edge deployments.Cloud versus colocation: Which wins or are they complementary?Theyre complementary. Our hybrid IT strategy is more than a unique concept; its a direct response to the demands of our clients, who are increasingly embracing mixed approaches to their IT infrastructure, placing different workloads in different environments. These clients dont want to lock into a single approach. Instead, theyre looking for a trusted provider who can help them evolve over time, as their needs change and technologies transform.What plans does TierPoint have for the year ahead?Well continue to strategically expand our data centers in response to market demand. Well also keep investing in RD, to ensure were offering state-of-the-art technology across our portfolio. RD investments, among other things, support enhanced private cloud solutions powered by Nutanix (announced) and VxRail (coming soon). They also enable advanced security solutions, like TierPoint CleanIP, our fully managed, next-generation firewall service. Solutions like these further augment the market-leading protections we already have in place, including DDoS attack mitigation powered by Radware, which benefits all clients with infrastructure in our data centers. In addition, were investing in and expanding our internal IT function, to further improve customer service and the interoperability of our systems.What are the top selling points for TierPoint?With a unique combination of secure, connected colocation and cloud solutions at the edge of the internet, we specialize in meeting companies where they are on their journey to IT transformation. We have one of the largest customer bases in the industry, with thousands of clients ranging from the public to private sectors, from small businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises. We also have one of the largest and most geographically diversified footprints in the nation, with over 40 world-class, highly compliant, edge-capable data centers in 20 markets and 8 multi-tenant cloud pods, connected by a coast-to-coast network. Led by a proven management team, our highly experienced IT professionals offer a comprehensive solutions portfolio from colocation to private, multitenant, hyperscale, and hybrid cloud, disaster recovery, security and other managed IT services.

Flexential, a leading provider of data center colocation and hybrid IT solutions, announced major expansions in both its Portland, Oregon and Nashville, Tennessee facilities. Expanding its national footprint, Flexential will build a vast, new state-of-the-art data center in Portland. Also, it will add a 40,000 square foot expansion to one of its Nashville data centers.Always striving to stay ahead of our customers IT capacity needs, we constantly seek opportunistic expansion of our data center portfolio nationwide. Customers look to us to provide flexible colocation services, in the most appropriate location, in order to solve complex IT requirements. Physical data center space is an essential piece of nearly every solutionfrom colocation, cloud, DRaaS or professional services, said Joe Guerriero, General Counsel and Real Estate Portfolio Manager, Flexential.The new facility will be constructed in Hillsboro on 20 acres of land near the companys existing data centers. Flexential already has two data centers in Hillsboro. According to the company, this data center will be the largest to date. The new data center will increase its Portland footprint to over 500,000 gross square feet. Direct access to three trans-Pacific subsea cables, supplying connectivity between Asia and the western coast of the United States, and some of the lowest tax rates in the U.S. are the main attractions of Flexentials Portland facilities.The company informed that nearly 40,000 sq. ft. of additional raised floor capacity at one of its Nashville data centers will be available in August 2019. With the expansion, the Nashville site will have a total of 10.65 MW and 165,000 sq. ft.In another development, real estate and infrastructure development company, Landmark Dividend, acquired the Flexential data center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Flexential has recently opened a 70,000 sq. ft addition at its Atlanta colocation facility to provide additional speed, security and services for the fast-growing financial technology industry. Flexentials robust suite of assets spans 21 markets and comprises 40 highly redundant and connectivity-rich data centers.

Digital Realty, a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced the official opening of the second facility on its Osaka connected campus. The facility, known as KIX11, will be connected via dark fiber to subsequent phases of the Digital Osaka connected campus. This brings together critical data center, network, cloud, and connectivity providers under a single, secure environment.The completion of KIX11 marks another milestone in the growth of our platform in Japan and an important step towards realizing the enormous potential of our partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation. Our Osaka connected campus will provide institutional quality infrastructure solutions at the heart of this thriving economic region for both global and Japanese clients, said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.According to Digital Realty, the four-story facility is reinforced with seismic isolation systems and will deliver up to 28 megawatts of total IT capacity. The campus covers 247,000 square feet. The new Osaka data center is anchored with a multi-megawatt, multi-year agreement with a leading cloud provider. It is a carrier-neutral facility with multiple carriers on site, providing open access to the Digital Realty ecosystem.This is an exciting phase in the growth of the Digital Realty platform in Japan, said Mark Smith, Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Digital Realty. Osaka is a thriving financial and colocation center, and a gateway for international exchanges. The expansion of our Osaka connected campus strengthens our global data center platform and enhances our ability to serve rapidly growing customer demand in the region. MC Digital Realty has four data centers in Japantwo each in the Tokyo and Osaka metros. The company also owns strategic land holdings in Osaka that will support the development of up to 55 megawatts of additional IT capacity. The data center provider recently bought a 217,000 sq ft land parcel near Tokyo to build a 36MW facility by 2021. The company aims to serve the growing number of Japanese enterprises migrating their digital footprint from on-premise facilities to third-party service providers.