Canada’s Data Centre Market to Grow Rapidly

While the sector is small in comparison to the US market, there is potential for major growth says Sean Maskell, president and general manager of Cologix Canada

Canada’s data centre market will keep “growing and accelerating in a big way,” according to Sean Maskell, president and general manager of Cologix Canada.  Over the last five years, the Denver-based company has doubled its Canadian footprint from 11 to 22 data centres in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, with 1.057 million square feet of space and 94 megawatts of power.

Cologix also has carrier- and cloud-neutral hyperscale in eight US markets, but the company’s three-city Canadian portfolio represents about 50% of its business, says Toronto-based Maskell. While the Canadian data centre sector is small in comparison to the US market, Maskell says there is potential for major growth. One of the reasons is a greater focus on connecting multiple data centres across the country with data that does not pass international borders.

According to him, currently data running from Toronto to the West Coast “dips down” into the US, before coming back into Vancouver, but there is a push from clients for added security. “We are seeing national network providers and international or global companies coming to Canada that are trusting us in their deployment and leveraging our ecosystem of networks to maintain that data sovereignty position.”

Canada Well-positioned for Growth

Data produced by AI and machine learning companies in the US needs to be close to consumers who use it, Maskell says. “That data will be pushed closer to the edge and live within a Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver data centre where the folks are (who) need to consume that information.”

The high-density computing needs of AI and machine learning, as well as 5G networks and the continued trend of digital migration to the cloud, have created substantial demand for colocation and interconnection solutions across Canada, he says.

Cologix recently completed its acquisition of two Cyxtera facilities in Vancouver and Montreal, and has expanded existing data centres in Montreal and Toronto. Its newly acquired 11,000-square-foot VAN5 in the Harbour Centre at 555 West Hastings St. in Vancouver has 1.2 megawatts of power. Also in Montreal, Cologix expanded capacity by 12,000 square feet and four megawatts at its MTL10 at 530 Bériault St. in Longueuil.