ByteGrid Expands Facility, Eyes More Markets

Wholesale data center provider ByteGrid has completed an expansion of the power infrastructure at its data center in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is scouting additional sites with an eye toward expanding in second-tier markets.

ByteGrid has installed two new UPS systems to add 3.6 megawatts of power capacity at its MDC1 data center. It bought the facility last year from a Fortune 50 financial services institution, which continues to lease a portion of the data center from ByteGrid. The concludes a five-year upgrade process in which all the building's original mechanical and electrical  infrastructure has been replaced.

ByteGrid a privately held company headquartered in Northern Virginia, is backed by Altpoint Capital Partners, a New York based private equity firm. ByteGrid believes that the model it has pursued in Maryland - buying an existing facility with a tenant in place and room for redevelopment - can work in other locations, and is looking to replicate this approach in new markets.

"We think there's a lot of demand in secondary markets, and no wholesale offerings," said Kenneth Parent, Chief Executive Office of ByteGrid. "We don't want to build speculative, ground-up projects. We've got to find the right building. We actually have money behind us, which puts us in a position to execute."

Scouting Several Additional Markets

ByteGrid is contemplating wholesale opportunities in markets including Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta. As a wholesale provider, ByteGrid will be looking to supply customers with turn-key suites and "pods" of finished data center space, rather than the cages and cabinets seen in colocation. While these cities may have an active colocation market, most wholesale providers have focused on larger markets.

ByteGrid isn't the only company contemplating a network of data centers in second-tier markets. A similar strategy has been announced by Compass Data Centers, a new provider founded by former Digital Realty executive Chris Crosby.

ByteGrid sees the Maryland suburbs as a market unto itself, distinct from the bustling data center activity in northern Virginia, which is home to dozens of data centers housing some of the largest Internet companies. Parent says many Maryland-based  enterprises and government agencies don't want to house their data centers in Virginia. Local officials agree.

"Until now, the vast majority of multi-tenant enterprise-class data center options for the metro Washington D.C. area have been concentrated in Ashburn, Virginia," said Art Jacoby, the Tech Council of Maryland’s Chief Executive Officer. "ByteGrid’s campus is situated central to the state’s growth sectors including Cybersecurity, Healthcare and Life Sciences. We are very excited to see the emergence of such needed Maryland data center capacity to support the state’s growth sectors and new economic initiatives."

ByteGrid's Silver Spring data center features more than 90,000 square feet of raised floor space. The facility is currently equipped with 22 megawatts of back-up generator capacity and 9 megawatts of available UPS critical load power. The company says its private raised floor computer rooms are available in various sizes ranging from 2,000 to 35,000 square feet.