Cologix snaps up DataCenter.BZ, establishes Ohio data center foothold

Cologix is establishing a presence in Ohio's data center market, announcing that it has closed a deal to acquire DataCenter.BZ in Columbus, Ohio.

The acquisition will enhance Cologix's growing data center footprint with two enterprise-grade, network neutral data centers across 32,000 square feet of raised floor space.

One of the key features of the facility is that it's one of the major interconnect points in Ohio. Customers residing in this facility can get access to 30 network providers and the OHIO-IX (Internet Exchange) within the Meet-Me-Rooms. 

"This acquisition fits into our strategy to operate interconnected facilities in Tier 2 markets," said Graham Williams, Chief Commercial Officer for Cologix, in an interview with FierceTelecom. "DataCenter.BZ truly is the most connected facility in the region from a fiber and carrier count perspective and has very robust infrastructure that has been validated by a number of large enterprise customers in Columbus Ohio."

Williams added that Cologox sees markets like Columbus "as the edge of the Internet gets further and further out." 

Being the home to five Fortune 500 companies, the Columbus metro area is a prime location for Cologix to grow its carrier and enterprise customer base. Other additional assets of the acquisition include five acres of land, more than 100 customers, metro conduit and dark fiber assets.

In particular, Cologix wants to capitalize on enterprises' move to look for colocation options instead of building their own data centers.

Another potential benefit of the Columbus location is that can be used for existing and new Cologix customers for disaster recovery.  

"It's a natural disaster recovery location based on the topology, the climate, lack of natural disasters and robust infrastructure," Williams said.  

Growing its market presence acquisitions to enhance its North American platform that now supports 700 customers has been an ongoing theme for Cologix. The service provider previously gained entry into the Jacksonville, Fla. market by acquiring JAX Meet Me Room (JMMR), for example.

"We're always acquisitive and have been fairly focused on the types of markets where we think our platform plays well," said Williams. "It's hard to predict the future, which is why we have not relied solely on acquisitions as our growth strategy in every market where we operate we have already completed a significant expansion, have announced one, or have one in the wings." 

For more:
- see the release

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Updated article on Feb. 5 with quotes from Graham Williams, Chief Commercial Officer for Cologix.