Data centers are buildings that are used by companies to store their data, applications, and infrastructure components, such as servers, storage, and switches.
Demand for data centers is growing due to their heightened cybersecurity, storage capabilities, and continuous monitoring as well as managed and self-service options. The demand can also be attributed to the growth in cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI).
The data center market was estimated to be worth $206.2 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to $404.9 billion by 2028, according to BlueWeave Consulting.
See below to learn all about data center technologies and the top companies in the data center market:
Choosing the right data center company
- Top data center companies
- Equinix
- Digital realty
- Coresite
- Cyxtera Technologies
- CyrusOne
- NTT Global Data Centers
- China Unicom
- QTS Realty Trust
- Flexential
- Iron Mountain
- Data center features
- Data center benefits
- Use cases
- What to look for in data center companies
For more: The Data Center Equipment Market
Top data center companies
Equinix
Redwood City, California-based Equinix is a vendor-neutral multi-tenant data center provider founded in 1998. Equinix runs a network of over 240 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in 70 major locations around the world to help over 10,000 customers connect globally.
Equinix data centers offer real-time monitoring, deployments with data center experts, remote support, and were built to exceed rigorous energy standards.
“The Equinix solution is ideal for ModEx, as it allows us to bring flexibility, reliability, and cost efficiencies to a marketplace that needs new technology and innovation. By using Equinix data centers, our clients can be confident that their data is safe and that the solution can meet their capacity needs,” says James Lay, ModEx commercial director, Simplitium, a user of Equinix data centers.
Equinix was named the 2020 “Asia-Pacific Data Center Services Provider of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan.
Differentiators
- Invested $129 million in energy-efficiency upgrades
- Large provider of carrier-neutral data centers
- Reports 99.9999% uptime
Pricing
For pricing, go to the Equinix sales contact page.
Digital Realty
Digital Realty, founded in 2001, owns, acquires, develops, and operates data centers worldwide. Based in Austin, Texas, their data center reach extends to six continents, 26 countries, and 50 metros. In total, Digital Realty owns and runs over 290 data centers.
Digital Realty aims to simplify infrastructure delivery by regulating a single global data center platform, giving customers business agility by shortening the time to connect to their data and supporting global capabilities.
“To meet aggressive growth demands while remaining flexible to meet our customer’s unique requirements, we needed a partner that was able to perform. Digital Realty offers us the ability to deploy a single cabinet, all the way up to large caged environments along with flexible connectivity options.
“Working collaboratively with the Digital team, we designed a solution providing us everything we needed through a consolidated solution. We knew it was the smart choice to stay and grow with Digital,” says Robert Keblusek, CTO, Sentinel Technologies, a user of Digital Realty data centers.
Digital Realty won Company of the Year in the 2021 Best Practices Awards by Frost & Sullivan.
Differentiators
- Data centers for the gaming industry
- 100% renewable energy for U.S. and European platforms
- ServiceFabric Connect global orchestration software
Pricing
For pricing information, contact Digital Realty here.
For more: The Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) Market
CoreSite
CoreSite is a Denver-based company that owns and operates data centers and provides colocation and peering services. CoreSite has 27 data center facilities in over 10 markets, including media and content, and 4.6 million square feet of rentable space.
CoreSite has multiple offerings: cabinet colocation, cage colocation, private data center suites, remote hands support, and move-in assistance services.
“Many data centers feel exclusive like a country club, because they often cater to just a handful of specialty industries or small groups of enterprise companies. CoreSite has built a true peering ecosystem comprising a unique mix of IP traffic from different industries,” says Maria Sirbu, VP of business development, Voxility, a user of CoreSite data centers.
CoreSite was recognized as one of the 2021 “NVTC Tech 100 Companies” by the Northern Virginia Technology Council.
Differentiators
- Partners with over 325 cloud and IT service providers
- Over 35,000 customer interconnections
- An open cloud exchange in each of data center market
Pricing
To get pricing, go to CoreSite’s quote page.
Cyxtera Technologies
Coral Gables, Florida-based Cyxtera Technologies is a global leader in data center colocation and interconnection services. Cyxtera Technologies owns and operates 61 data centers in over 29 markets globally. These data centers provide services to over 2,000 enterprises and government agencies. 
Cyxtera data centers offer cross-platform versatility and custom solutions to give customers control over their data and scale with growth.
“Cyxtera’s data centers have proved very reliable, with their personnel always being accommodating to our needs,” says Tom Davies, senior manager, Cisco DevNet, a user of Cyxtera Technologies data centers.
Cyxtera was named the Global Service Provider of the Year at Nutanix’s .NEXT Digital Experience and recognized for “Best Data Center Cyber Security” by DataCloud.
Differentiators
- Uses machine learning (ML) and AI to manage data centers
- SmartCabs to speed deployments
- Enterprise-grade compute, storage, and networking solutions
Pricing
For pricing, fill out this form.
CyrusOne
CyrusOne, a data center provider, was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. CyrusOne has over 40 enterprise-class data centers across three continents with more than four million rentable square feet. CyrusOne data centers serve hundreds of customers.
CyrusOne helps enterprises with their data center infrastructure: by assisting through scoping, engineering, and implementation phases; offering low- to ultra-high density solutions tailored to the rack level; and design services that include power and usage projections, floor planning, connectivity assessment, and implementation scheduling.
“Our online business has increased to the point where our legacy infrastructure has limited ability to support our continued growth. And our private data center can’t support the IT infrastructure we need to deliver our products and services,” says Joedy Lenz, VP and CTO, Carfax, a user of CyrusOne data centers.
“When we call to request a configuration of our IT footprint, they start working to approve it immediately, and then send us the work order to document it. They never make it a burden on us, or make us feel like it’s a burden on them. They’re obviously focused on ensuring their customer’s success, rather than their own.”
CyrusOne won the Top Project of the Year Award by Environment + Energy Leader as well as the Hyperscale Data Center Innovation Award by Data Center Dynamics.
Differentiators
- Builds new data halls in 12-16 weeks to meet customer demand
- $15 billion dollar investment toward sustainability
- Pledged to be carbon neutral by 2040
Pricing
To get pricing, request a proposal here.
NTT Global Data Centers
NTT is a global data center company with locations across Europe, North America, Africa, and Asia. These data centers have cross-regional networks in locations such as London, Singapore, Tokyo, and Virginia. 
NTT focuses on their data centers being innovative through the testing and validation of emerging technologies, such as cloud, blockchain, IoT, and AI as well as enterprise applications.
They aim to help an enterprise stay connected globally and add support services. For instance, Araceli Pedraza, country managing director at NTT Ltd. in Spain, says:
“Spain has become a hub for communications in southern Europe in recent years, in part due to new submarine cables. With our new data center in Madrid, we are actively shaping the digital future of the region.”
NTT was named Asia-Pacific Cloud Infrastructure Services Provider of the Year, Asia-Pacific Customer Experience System Integrator of the Year, Asia-Pacific Managed Security Service Provider of the Year, Southeast Asia Unified Communications Systems Integrator of the Year, and Philippines Contact Center System Integrator of the Year by Frost & Sullivan.
Differentiators
- A Leader by IDC in the “Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services MarketScape”
- Offers a trial period
- Uses robotics for data centers
Pricing
To request a quote, go here.
China Unicom
China Unicom is a data center company based in Hong Kong. China Unicom works in 70 countries and regions with 31 subsidiaries and offices and over 130 overseas points of presence (PoP). 
China Unicom plans to grow with the global connectivity market as an information and communications technology (ICT) provider, offering global internet access, cloud, IoT, unified communications, content, and security services.
China Unicom won the Best International Network Operator Award at the 2020 Cahk Star Awards.
Differentiators
- Owns 20 terrestrial cable systems and over 40 submarine cable systems
- Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection service for traffic monitoring, alerting, and protection
- 32 scrubbing nodes to handle T-level attacks
Pricing
For pricing, go to the contact page.
QTS Realty Trust
Overland Park, Kansas-based QTS Realty Trust operates numerous data centers throughout North America, covering over nine million square feet, and two locations in the Netherlands.
QTS offers secure and compliant infrastructure through its software-defined (SD) platform. It is QTS Realty Trust’s mission to provide optimal connectivity, resiliency, redundancy, and scale to over 1,000 customers. They also provide around- the-clock security inside and outside of their data centers.
“Data center services done right, nothing lacking. QTS is by far the best data center provider we have worked with. We are running at 100% uptime over our three+ years relationship. However, the main differentiator is the QTS staff. A very competent, and friendly bunch,” says a user of QTS’ data centers.
QTS Realty Trust was named a 2022 “Champions of Business” honoree by Kansas City Business Journal and given the “Data Center Construction Project Award ” by Northern Virginia Technology Council.
Differentiators
- Open internet exchange (OIX) data center certifications
- Helped Atlanta achieve 350 MW of new renewable energy for the power grid
- Has five security hubs: signal intel hub,; measurements and signature hub; BC/DR hub; insider threat hub; and cyber threat hub
Pricing
For a colocation quote, go here.
Flexential
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Flexential operates 40 data centers covering three million square feet. Since starting in 1999, Flexential has helped deliver their services to over 4,000 customers across the U.S. and Canada. Flexenial’s top industries are health care, manufacturing, technology, financial, retail, and logistics. 
Flexential offers three different types of colocation to help fit customers’ needs: Retail Colocation, Wholesale Colocation, and Colocation Remote Hands Service.
“Flexential has strong security features and solid processes and procedures that are under continuous SOC2 audit. Plus, they have convenient, geographically diverse locations that are interconnected, and they support availability at a reasonable price,” says Mark Cavaliero, founder and CEO, Carolinas IT, a user of Flexential data centers.
Flexential won the Service Provider of the Year – Americas, by Infinidat.
Differentiators
- Managed virtual firewall
- 100% uptime commitment
- 13,000 route miles
Pricing
To request a quote from Flexential, go here.
Iron Mountain
Founded in 1951, Boston-based Iron Mountain is a global leader in the data center market. Iron Mountain’s 1,400 data centers are used by over 225,000 organizations and cover over 85 million square feet across 54 countries. 
Their data centers help protect and store private business information, critical data, and artifacts. Iron Mountain has multiple data center as-a-service options, such as wholesale data centers, build-to-suit data centers, private suites, and modular data centers. There are also add-ons for secure cages, individual cabinets, and server colocation to keep data secure.
“We chose them because of their expertise, knowledge, and customer service. We were looking for a provider that was focused on providing enterprise-grade data center space, power and network access, Iron Mountain had it all. … Iron Mountain was able to get us moved and powered up in short order with no interruption in service. … I don’t worry about the data center anymore and that lets me sleep a little easier at night,” says Chris Filandro, CIO, Meritage Homes, a user of Iron Mountain data centers.
Iron Mountain is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Buildings Initiative and won the “2019 Nareit Leader in the Light Award” by Nareit.
Differentiators
- Data centers in UK, Ireland, and Benelux use 100% renewable energy
- Used by 95% of the Fortune “1000”
- Offers service organization controls, quality management, information security, energy management, and environmental management
Pricing
For pricing information, go to the Iron Mountain sales contact page.
Data center features
- Compute: the processing power and memory to run applications on a server
- Storage: the hardware and software used to store and manage data
- Networking: integration of networking resources, such as switches, routers, load balancing, and network monitoring and analytics
- Cybersecurity: using software that keeps data center operations, including data and applications, safe from cyberthreats
- Scalability: adjust capacity of compute, storage, and networking functions based on usage
Data center benefits
Enhance cybersecurity: better secure proprietary and sensitive corporate information, such as intellectual property, customer data, and financial records
Increase productivity: increase IT operations efficiency, redundancy, and flexibility and better optimize IT assets
Reduce costs: help customers lower their upfront hardware and software infrastructure expenses and staffing needs
Use cases
Yarra City Council
The Yarra City Council provides many different services for the City of Yarra in Australia, which caused a need for reducing costs and complexity in their IT infrastructure. A data center through Equinix seemed to be a good decision for the Yarra City Council.
“There are a lot of data centers out there that look great. But the crucial factor for us was establishing a solid, in-depth relationship. Equinix and its team demonstrated that from day one — really going the extra mile to address our needs and build a foundation that would last for the foreseeable future.
“We felt comfortable it was a genuine partnership on every level, not only on costs, but in terms of a long-term relationship,” says Rick Bottigileri, innovation manager, Yarra City Council.
With Equinix, moving legacy IT systems from in-house data centers has reduced complexity, improved reliability, and reduced costs with Yarra City Council saving, for instance, on their air conditioning costs.
The new hybrid cloud and data center strategy means that the council is agile and can roll out new services almost overnight rather than eight months.
Fender
Fender is an instrument manufacturer that needed help managing their IT services for financial planning and e-commerce systems. They wanted to decrease IT costs without affecting their relationships with customers.
Fender did not want a solution that could take away from their focus on product development, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth. Fender soon realized outsourcing to a provider that specializes in the design, build, and operation of data centers was the most beneficial option.
“We looked at a dozen data center providers on the East and West coasts, and none of them could match what Iron Mountain had. When we toured Iron Mountain, we were sold,” says Jason Bredimus, VP of IT infrastructure, Fender.
With Iron Mountain, Fender increased uptime to 100% and gained more freedom to focus on other IT business needs.
What to look for in a data center company
Many data center companies offer a range of essential IT infrastructure, improved cybersecurity, managed services, and on-site support.
However, comprehensive energy-efficiency practices built into data centers, artificial intelligence tools, and in-market and edge locations are not provided by every data center company. These are the types of features that some of the leading players are offering customers in the data center market.
For more: The Data Center Networking Market
