QTS Tenant Powers Up, Adds 5 Megawatts in Atlanta Data Hub

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The exterior of the QTS Metro Atlanta data center.

A major customer of QTS Realty Trust is adding five megawatts of power and 25,000 square feet of space to their existing data center at QTS' Metro Atlanta facility, the company said this week. QTS isn't saying who it is, but all signs point to Twitter, the fast-growing microblogging service.

In its announcement, QTS described the company as a California-based company that's an existing tenant and leases at least 100,000 square feet of space at the Metro facility, where it moved in during 2012 and has phased expansions through 2014.

Those descriptions all fit Twitter. QTS doesn't publicly discuss clients, but DCK has reported that Twitter expanded its infrastructure to the East Coast with its presence at the Metro Atlanta data center. The new deal would add capacity above and beyond its existing commitments, starting in 2015.

“We are proud that QTS is able to expand our relationship with this fast growing company,” said Dan Bennewitz, chief operating officer, sales and marketing for QTS Realty. “We believe this expanded commitment shows the unique value QTS provides to support their business and rapid growth.”

The 970,000 square foot Metro Technology Center in downtown Atlanta is one of the world’s largest data centers. The huge building offers plenty of room for expansion for growing tenants. This allows companies like Twitter to gradually expand their data center space and power costs over time, rather than purchasing a larger amount up front and seeing some of the capacity go unused as it ramps up its operations. QTS also offers flexible pricing on power usage, which can be attractive to companies facing rapid growth. The provider’s  PowerBank plan allows large customers to scale their available power up and down as their requirements change.

The customer expansion in Atlanta will help boost leasing activity at QTS Realty, which went public through an IPO in October and now trades on the NYSE under the symbol QTS.  The company has 10 data centers in seven states with 3.8 million square feet of data center infrastructure and supports more than 875 customers.