Demand for data centers in the Atlanta market is driven by its numerous Fortune 500 employers and reliable infrastructure. From a geographic perspective, Atlanta's data center footprint is found both in and out of the downtown area. The data centers located in or near downtown take advantage of the dense connectivity. Atlanta's urban core is loaded with high-performance fiber and home to both 180 Peachtree and 56 Marietta, two large carrier hotels in the city. Both of these facilities are occupied by multiple colocation providers, including Equinix, Level 3, and Telx (now owned by Digital Realty).

Data center investment also occurs in the region's suburbs, which host numerous state-of-the-art facilities. Hometown data center provider QTS and major cloud services companies like Google have built large data centers in Atlanta's suburbs.

Why Data Center Users Like Atlanta

1. Favorable Business Climate – Out of Georgia's eighteen total Fortune 500 company headquarters, sixteen are based in metro Atlanta with growth from the technology industry and venture capital funding at its peak
2. Competitive Colocation/Cloud Environment – Continued delivery of colocation and cloud options in Atlanta creates a competitive location for data center users
3. Reasonable Power Cost – The power cost in the Atlanta market is competitive when compared to other major U.S. markets
4. Low Natural Disaster Risk – Atlanta is relatively free from natural disaster threats, other than occasional high winds/rain from hurricane remnants
5. Robust Connectivity – Atlanta's fiber density and capacity is among the best for large cities in the United States

Atlanta Colocation Supply Update

• QTS – Atlanta-based QTS operates two area data centers in the Atlanta market. At almost 1 million SF, QTS Atlanta-Metro is one of the largest data centers in the world. The carrier-neutral facility at 1033 Jefferson Street NW features its own on-site Georgia Power substation and delivers the company's full array of colocation and cloud services. QTS also operates a second data center at 300 Satellite Boulevard in Suwanee, GA, approximately 30 miles northeast of Atlanta.
• T5 Data Centers – Also headquartered in Atlanta, T5's T5@Atlanta in suburban Alpharetta, GA is a purpose-built data center offering users power densities of up to 200 W/SF on 54,383 raised floor square feet (RFSF) of colocation space
• Internap – Headquartered in Atlanta, the company's data center, Internap ACS, is located in 250 Williams Street, a massive office building in the heart of downtown. Internap's 40,000 SF leverages the building's high-performance fiber and power infrastructure while also hosting a robust Meet-Me Room (MMR).
• Compass Data Centers – Compass acquired 23.5 acres in Lithia Springs, GA where it can develop a campus with up to five data centers. The site will be powered by three substations, enabling multiple feeds capable of delivering 1.2 MW of critical power to each planned data center; This tracks with their recently announced strategy to focus on big market wholesale data center solutions
• H5 Data Centers – H5 Data Centers provides both wholesale and shell options for data center users at their 110,000 SF facility located at 345 Courtland Street. The facility is powered by Georgia Power and offers fiber from ten providers
• Other Providers active in Atlanta: ByteGrid, CenturyLink, DataSite, Digital Realty, EdgeConneX, Peak 10, Sungard, and zColo

Atlanta is categorized as "competitive" compared to other large markets when analyzing the U.S. data center market holistically. From a power perspective, transactions are a healthy mix of both small (0 kW-500 kW) and large (501+ kW) sizes, with active interest and take up from financial, healthcare, insurance, technology, and telecommunications companies.

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