USA it would be just a tremendous way to get into that ecosystem . We ’ re hugely excited about it and the conversations we ’ ve had with Georgia Tech have been extremely positive .” The project is also one close to Ooley ’ s heart , not just because of the potential it represents for DataBank , but also due to the time he spent as an undergraduate student at the University . “ I ’ ve experienced the emphasis and resources that they put into research . It ’ s one of the highest rated engineering institutes in the US , and the commitment to this area and the broader Atlanta community is unparalleled . I ’ m really pleased to be a part of that , and we will benefit because a lot of our customers will see us providing this for them and we ’ ll gain credibility to be able to take this and offer it in other markets ,” he comments .
Away from academia , DataBank has entered Cleveland and Pittsburgh after its acquisition of network-neutral data center facilities from 365 Data Centers . “ Cleveland and Pittsburgh offer very highly connected facilities , so it was a positive way for us to enter into the marketplace ,” says Ooley . “ This opportunity aligned with one of our two acquisitions strategies , which is to go into a market and pick up an asset and then build our data bank design , data centers around that .”
Elaborating on strategy employed by DataBank , Martynek reveals : “ We look at markets analytically – not every market is going to be a good one . Cleveland , Pittsburgh and our Atlanta announcement , all three of those markets were on our radar as good markets that had good characteristics from a long-term absorption of incremental data center space .
“ We ’ re reticent to go into a market without an established presence , in other words greenfield . That ’ s a really big difference between what ’ s happening now and what happened in the bubble era .
“ I ’ ve been in the sector since 1994 , so I ’ ve seen the evolution . In the bubble era , companies planted flags , they would set up operations in a location without a single customer . That doesn ’ t happen today in data center land . People realize it ’ s very difficult to convince users ,
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