Edge Data Center colocation provider EdgeConneX expects to be north of 30 data centers this year. The company currently has 20 facilities, all but two of which were added in 2014. While the expansion expectations suggest the company might be calling a few racks a data center, these are all facilities of between 15,000 and 40,000 square feet.
EdgeConneX focuses on “edge” data centers, helping content providers colocate as close to areas with high concentration of users as possible. It serves the very big content providers, such as cable companies and content delivery networks.
The idea of an edge data center sounds similar to CDN. However, instead of providing caching servers, the company provides high-grade colocation space, or “Layer 0,” as the company itself calls it. “We ourselves are not a CDN,” Clint Heiden, chief commercial officer at EdgeConneX, said. “We put infrastructure as close as you can have it. We provide management of the data center. We give a user a view into every data center so they know what’s going on down to the rack and component level.” Read More