May 04
Southern California is one of the most important economic regions in the United States, with a population of more than 20 million people and serving as home to some of the world’s largest companies. As the second biggest city in the country, Los Angeles is an ideal location for any organization looking to reach customers on the West Coast or extend network services into emerging Pacific markets. Migrating assets into a multi-tenant data center provider in the Los Angeles area can provide the connectivity and reliability companies need to meet their ambitious digital transformation goals.
4 Key Considerations for a Multi-Tenant Data Center in Los Angeles
1. Building a New Data Center Can Be Costly
Constructing a new data center in Los Angeles, as well as Southern California in general, poses significant financial challenges in addition to current economic uncertainties. Los Angeles is known for its expensive property market, which inflates the upfront costs associated with acquiring a suitable location for a data center. Moreover, the dense urban landscape often results in limited available space, further driving up the costs of securing a parcel of land large enough to accommodate the required infrastructure. Organizations considering building a data center in the region must carefully assess the financial implications of these real estate challenges, as they may significantly affect the overall cost-effectiveness and return on investment of the project.
In addition to the real estate challenges, California's stringent regulations on construction projects present further difficulties for organizations looking to build a data center in Los Angeles or Southern California. The state enforces rigorous environmental, safety, and building standards that often translate into increased construction costs and longer project timelines. For instance, the state's Title 24 energy efficiency standards mandate the use of specific materials and technologies, which may be more expensive than conventional alternatives. Permitting and approval processes can be complex and time-consuming, resulting in further delays and associated expenses which may ultimately render the project cost-prohibitive.
2. Direct Connectivity to Foreign Markets
Colocation in Los Angeles offers unique connectivity advantages, particularly with respect to its strategic geographical position and direct access to Asian markets through advanced undersea cable systems. Two prominent cable lines are the SEA-US and JUPITER cables, which provide high-speed and low-latency connections between the United States, Asia, and the Pacific. The SEA-US cable spans approximately 15,000 kilometers, linking the U.S. West Coast to Southeast Asia and offering a direct route that bypasses the congested trans-Pacific cable systems. Similarly, the JUPITER cable connects the United States, Japan, and the Philippines, significantly enhancing data transmission capabilities and capacity across the Pacific region. Organizations opting for colocation in Los Angeles can benefit from these state-of-the-art cable systems, leveraging faster and more reliable connectivity with key Asian markets.
In addition to the Asian market connectivity, colocation in Los Angeles provides organizations with robust connectivity to Latin America, particularly through Google's Curie undersea cable. This 10,500-kilometer cable system connects Los Angeles directly to Valparaiso, Chile, and is the first subsea cable to link the U.S. West Coast to this South American country. By utilizing this cable, organizations colocating in Los Angeles can access high-speed and low-latency connections with the burgeoning Latin American market, thus expanding their global reach and improving their ability to exchange data and collaborate across regions.
3. Population Density & Network Infrastructure
The high population density of the Los Angeles area makes it an attractive location for colocation data center customers, as it offers proximity to key customer bases and enhanced latency performance. By choosing a colocation data center in the populous Los Angeles region, organizations can ensure optimal connectivity to their customers and partners, resulting in faster response times and improved user experiences. This strategic positioning enables businesses to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly digital landscape, where efficient and reliable data transmission is paramount.
Another advantage of Southern California colocation is access to a rich ecosystem of connectivity providers and services. The region's dense population attracts a multitude of internet service providers, cloud service providers, and telecommunication companies, fostering a competitive environment that encourages innovation and cost-efficient services. The State of California has also made significant investments in expanding connectivity infrastructure. In October of 2022, California began construction on a $3.8 billion middle-mile fiber network designed to lay down 10,000 miles of fiber to reach constituents throughout the state.
4. Demand Is High, Supply Is Low
Southern California's colocation data center market is characterized by high demand, which can be attributed to the region's diverse industries and significant population growth. The area boasts a thriving business landscape, encompassing sectors such as entertainment, technology, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and finance, all of which have increasing digital requirements that drive the demand for colocation services. Rapid population growth in Southern California contributes to the increasing reliance on data-intensive applications and services, further fueling the need for robust data center infrastructure. This strong demand for colocation facilities in the region reflects the growing awareness of the benefits of colocation services, such as cost savings, scalability, and enhanced connectivity, among businesses of all sizes.
Leasing activity picked up dramatically in 2021, with Southern California seeing a 38% increase in megawatt absorption from the previous year. Although 14.9 MW of data center capacity was under construction in 2022, these new facilities were already pre-leased and are not expected to have much of an impact on vacancy rates, which also declined in 2021. Southern California is expected to remain a high demand market even as new supply comes online, making it critical for businesses to move quickly when evaluating their data center options in Los Angeles.
Evoque’s Multi-Tenant Los Angeles Data Centers
To meet the expansive connectivity needs of businesses operating in Southern California, Evoque Data Center Solutions offers two colocation facilities in the Los Angeles area. The larger of the two, LAX1 in Hawthorne, is a massive 288,583 sq. ft. data center located less than six miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). With 1MW of power generated onsite by high efficiency fuel cells and a dedicated 28 MVA substation to ensure 100% uptime, our Hawthorne location is optimized to meet the efficiency and reliability requirements of today’s businesses. The data center also offers robust connectivity options, with copper, fiber, and coaxial cross connects and internet connectivity with multiple carriers.
Evoque LAX1 Hawthorne Carriers
- American Dark Fiber
- AT&T (LNS, SBC)
- Cogent
- Cloudflare
- Crown Castle Fiber (Wilcon)
- Verizon (MCI Metro)
- Spectrum
Our second Los Angeles colocation data center is LAX2 in Irvine, located less than two miles from John Wayne Airport (SNA) in the heart of Orange County. This state-of-the-art, cloud-enabled data center features 150,000 sq. ft. of capacity and, like LAX1, generates 1MW of fuel cell power to minimize its carbon footprint. The LAX2 Irvine data center also provides high-speed private connectivity to Evoque’s other data centers to help our customers manage their workloads and improve application performance.
Choosing the Right Multi-Tenant Data Center in Los Angeles
Choosing between colocation providers in Los Angeles that offer the best connectivity and uptime performance at a reasonable cost may seem daunting, but Evoque is here to make the decision easy.
Our Hawthorne and Irvine data centers offer state-of-the-art security, top-tier hardware, power, and cooling to ensure seamless services and connectivity to meet all your requirements. From 1 to 10,000 cabinets we have the power to deliver a just-in-time solution to help your enterprise win.
To discover more about our Evoque’s Southern California colocation options, please contact sales@evoquedcs.com.
