The Hunger for Data Centers in Unserved Markets

As fiber continues to grow and spread in unserved and underserved areas, some are leveraging it to deploy IT infrastructure that can support business functions through the low latency and near-infinite bandwidth capacity it brings. DC BLOX, founded a decade ago, has been taking advantage of fiber’s opportunities. 

“We saw the universe expanding in front of us,” said Jeff Wabik, Chief Technology Officer, DC BLOX. “It was clear at the time we started the company that there was a hunger for data center capacity, and it has continued to grow. Our initial focus was on what we call underserved markets in the Southeast, which focused on towns like Birmingham, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, that didn’t have much infrastructure.” 

Deploying data centers in new markets required “bulletproof, high-bandwidth, low-latency, infinitely reliable network connectivity that scales into terabytes and hundreds of terabits,” said Wabik. DC BLOX’s data centers are designed to provide more of everything digital, with business customers including BMW, Exxon, UPS, Walmart, and Wells Fargo. 

“Every business wants more and more,” Wabik stated. “Consumer demand is greater and greater. Every business that we know is demanding more and more.”   

And there’s no specific “more” from hyperscalers such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, since some are connecting millions of devices, others are seeking more power to support AI and other compute-intensive tasks, and others are continuously adding more storage as data is created and accessed by social media and businesses.  

“The hyperscalers are driving everything,” Wabik said. “They’re growing their footprint and ecosystems like wildfire. They’re scaling everything. They’re consuming gigawatts and gigawatts of electricity, taxing the power grid. We’re in continuous negotiations with power providers to help them understand the problem. But all that compute and storage doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get to it across the network. What we’re seeing is hyperscalers actually become their own telecoms. They’re not buying dark fiber in pairs, they’re buying 432 (cable).”  

By putting its data centers at the edge of the network, DC BLOX keeps network congestion low and responsiveness high, two traits highly valued by hyperscalers as they continue to grow and expand. To learn more about the growth of data center capacity and the contribution of fiber to DC BLOX’s success, check out the latest Fiber for Breakfast.