American Tower today announced that it has closed the acquisition of DataSite, an owner and operator of two multi-tenant data centers in Atlanta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida for $201m from Burges Property Company. DataSite’s two metro data centers will add to American Tower’s existing metro facility at 55 Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia. In turn, American Tower is bringing its total portfolio to 9 colocation facilities, including 6 edge and 3 metro data centers in the United States.
DataSite – Complementary to American Tower’s Data Centers
American Tower will manage and operate DataSite’s facilities in Atlanta and Orlando, as part of its metro data center portfolio. Importantly, DataSite’s metro data centers house carrier hotels, providing interconnectivity access to internet exchanges, and cloud services.
Through DataSite’s two metro data centers, American Tower will provide dedicated internet access, carrier-neutral fiber cross-connects, cloud on-ramps, point-to-point data center connectivity, and WAN & SD-WAN services.
Atlanta, Georgia – DataSite
DataSite’s facility in the Atlanta, Georgia market is located at 1130 Powers Ferry Place Marietta, Georgia. Specifically, this facility comprises 4.6 megawatts of power capacity across 73k sqft of space.
Overall, this DataSite data center is situated ~13 miles from American Tower’s existing facility at 55 Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia. Therefore, American Tower is providing an additional location for enterprise customers to extend their network with more connectivity options.
Orlando, Florida – DataSite
DataSite’s facility in the Orlando, Florida market is located at 9701 S. John Young Parkway Orlando, Florida. Specifically, this facility comprises ~6 megawatts of power capacity across 130k sqft of space. Additionally, the Orlando, Florida data center has 100k+ sqft of expansion capability.
DataSite’s metro data center in Orlando is located ~130 miles from American Tower’s edge data center in Jacksonville, which is important for enhancing connectivity in Florida. Furthermore, the Orlando site offers a location for customers to connect into third-party facilities in Miami, which then connect onwards to networks across Latin America.
Data Centers – American Tower
In 2019, American Tower entered the data center market, as a neutral-host, with its purchase of Colo Atl (see below). In terms of network architecture, American Tower’s metro data centers connect via fiber to the company’s smaller edge data centers which are deployed at the base of its cellular towers.
Notably, American Tower’s peer SBA Communications has a similar data center strategy through its SBA Edge unit. Additionally, edotco, a regional tower company in Asia, highlights the importance of edge computing for the proliferation of 5G networks.
Edge Data Centers
American Tower owns 6 edge data centers across the United States, which each comprise ~360 sqft. The company’s edge data center format houses 20+ customer cabinets at each location.
Geographically, American Tower’s 6 edge facilities are located in:
- Atlanta, Georgia: located at 2374 Fairburn Road Southwest, this facility spans 360 sqft. Also, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 8 customer cabinets / 20 quarter-cabinet lockers, and 3 full cabinets
- Austin, Texas: located at 1601 West 10th Street, this facility spans 176 sqft. Additionally, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 5 customer cabinets / 20 individual lockers
- Boulder, Colorado: located at 9110 Interlocken Loop (Broomfield), this facility spans 360 sqft. Also, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 8 customer cabinets / 20 quarter-cabinet lockers, and 3 full cabinets
- Denver, Colorado: located at 5041 Broadway, this facility spans 360 sqft. Additionally, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 8 customer cabinets / 20 quarter-cabinet lockers, and 3 full cabinets
- Jacksonville, Florida: located at 325 17th Avenue North (Jacksonville Beach), this facility spans 160 sqft. Also, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 4 customer cabinets / 16 individual lockers
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: located at 1000 East Agnew Avenue, this facility spans 360 sqft. Additionally, for fit-out, American Tower’s edge data center has 8 customer cabinets / 20 quarter-cabinet lockers, and 3 full cabinets
Metro Data Centers
American Tower owns 3 metro data centers across the United States, two of which the company added through its acquisition of DataSite. American Tower’s third metro data center is located at 55 Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia, which is also known as Colo Atl. Specifically, American Tower occupies 4 floors of the building comprising 62k sqft and offering 6 megawatts of power capacity.
In April 2019, American Tower took its first step in building-out its data center portfolio by purchasing Colo Atl, a colocation data center in downtown Atlanta for $75m. Colo Atl is not a fully-fledged data center but rather an interconnect facility. Additionally, it is situated across the street from Digital Realty’s 56 Marietta Street data center, a key interconnection hub.
