The Northeast is an economic powerhouse. It includes the global capital of finance, more than half of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies, 200 universities, leading medical institutions, centers of media and telecom, and more. Yet its third-party data center ecosystem is lackluster. It falls short in quantity, quality, and value.
Colocation (colo) data centers in the Northeast’s metro areas represent only about 10% of the total in the U.S., despite the region driving more than one-fifth of the national economy. Data centers in the core NY/NJ market also are smaller than those in the other three major markets (Table 1). Smaller translates into older facilities with fewer features and less room for growth. At the same time, northern New Jersey and Boston are among the most expensive data center locations in the U.S.