Cologix Expands In Minnesota's Most Connected Building

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A trow of cabinets in a Cologix data center. (Photo: Cologix)

Cologix has announced a new 28,000 square foot expansion in downtown Minneapolis at 511 11th Avenue. This doubles the company's footprint in the "511 building," the primary telecom hotel in Minneapolis and Minnesota’s largest Internet communications hub.

The expansion makes Cologix the largest tenant in the carrier hotel, meaning it has prime space available in a market that has drawn a lot of interest over the past few years or so. Examples of this interest include Stream Data Centers, Viawest’s 150,000 square foot build, as well as DataBank, Compass Datacenters and Digital Realty Trust all making moves in the bustlinh Minnesota market.

Cologix acquired the Minnesota Gateway, located in the carrier hotel in 2012. This gave the company a key footprint in the market, as the Minnesota Gateway operated the Meet Me Room in the building.The company has enjoyed success in the area ever since.

Strong Demand

“We continue to see strong demand in Minneapolis across all customer segments and increasingly from financial institutions and large enterprises,” said Grant van Rooyen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cologix. “Our new data center will provide all our customers with more of the highly robust infrastructure for which we are well known and the benefits of the broadest connectivity choice in the Upper Midwest, all within easy access from IT offices in and around downtown. The new capacity will also support content and cloud providers who are recognizing Minneapolis as an ideal peering market, and the new edge of the Internet.”

At full capacity, Cologix’s new facility is designed to support 600 incremental cabinets.

Traffic Surging

The traffic in Minnesota is growing, and the 511 building is growing as a peering alternative to Chicago, according to Shaun Carlson, Network Engineering Manager, Arvig and member of the board of MICE (Midwest Internet Cooperative Exchange).

“In the past year MICE’s average traffic has quadrupled and we are seeing increased interest from networks and media providers alike in Minneapolis as a peering alternative to Chicago," said Carlson. "Cologix’s new downtown expansion is good news for the peering community as it will provide new capacity to attract additional peers to the budding community.”

511 11th was once in jeopardy, as the Minnesota Vikings, the football team next door, wanted to tear it down for a new stadium. The 511 Building is a 270,000 square foot building adjacent to the Metrodome. This would have been worse than missing a 38-yard field goal in an NFC championship game, as the building’s importance truly came to light. Seventy different data networks converge on the deeply connected building.