As the longtime business, financial, and network hub for all of Canada, Toronto is the primary data center destination for hyperscale and networking tenants. With plenty of locally based large enterprises (particularly from banking and insurance), a globally significant carrier hotel, and proximity to major metropolitan areas throughout the United States, Toronto has tightened rapidly with limited vacancies and new phases challenging due to an equally robust industrial market.
The Big Five grouping of the largest Canadian banks are all based locally in the Toronto Financial District, with Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce together generating revenue of nearly C$200 billion per year and financing business and individuals across the country. These global institutions have led to a growing financial ecosystem that uses Toronto as its base to acquire commercial real estate and other core assets worldwide. Various specialized manufacturing firms also call the Greater Toronto Area home, with these and other sectors providing a solid job market for nearly ten million residents, among the top five across all North America.
A large population requires a dense variety of extended- and short-haul networks, with highly dense connectivity both in the downtown core and throughout an array of suburbs. Sizable fiber routes link the city to core eastern Canadian markets such as Ottawa and Montreal with six- to seven-millisecond latency and only ten-millisecond connectivity to the major US market of Chicago. As a novel answer for further connectivity for a non-coastal city, Toronto also boasts the Lake Ontario submarine cable, connecting directly across the US border in Buffalo under the eponymous lake and bypassing a much longer terrestrial route.
Despite these positives, the recent land rush for industrial and data center development has placed a strain on further development across both sectors in Toronto, with the industrial market at just one percent vacancy. This is even tighter than the sub-seven percent vacancy for the data center market, with both sectors often competing for sizable (and often costly) development sites. The lack of quality land to purchase will likely lead to multi-floor builds seen throughout constricted Asian markets in both sectors, adding to the future development cost.
With continued strong demand as Canada’s largest data center market, expect incremental growth in Toronto despite limited availability. The massive local client base and dense connectivity will be too compelling to ignore as one of the largest cities in North America continues to grow.
The EdgeConneX campus in Toronto offers a secure, carrier-neutral environment for all deployments.
- ~1 MW of Capacity Available RFS
- Tier III design, 20 kilometers from downtown Toronto
- Six networks available
- Capable of 20 kilowatts per cabinet
- Dual Routes to 151 Front St.
To learn more, download the EdgeConneX Toronto data sheet HERE.
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To tour our Toronto location, please contact: info@edgeconnex.com