As our national Data Center & Investment Expo (we call it DICE) approaches June 26 and 27 in Washington, DC, one of our key panelists has a bit of news that illustrates just how hot the data center market is. Compass Datacenters looks to expand into new markets like Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, and Georgia with a fresh infusion of $110M in capital. (They should keep it in $20 bills in briefcases like a James Bond villain.)

We got in touch with Compass' CEO Chris Crosby (here at a Bisnow event with Critical Project Services' Matthew Koerner) fresh from raising $35M in equity and $65M additional borrowing power in its KeyBank credit facility. “We're going to continue to expand into some new markets with clients,” Chris says. (They're like pioneers, except instead of horses they ride data servers, and they don't worry about scurvy.) Chris says they are riding on the backs of clients like Windstream, Iron Mountain, and CenturyLink with data center expansions that range anywhere from 22k SF to 26k SF, especially with private cloud and secondary facilities.

Most recently, Compass entered Minneapolis with a data center for CenturyLink. Chris says the industry is rapidly maturing to the point that general data center development is dwindling. Instead, he says, Compass and others are finding success in niche development that targets specific needs for clients. “I think you're going to see a rapid maturity where the data centers themselves will continue to be productized more so than this one-off type of basis. You can't deliver on the paradox of a high-quality product at low cost,” he says. “To be all things to all people means mediocrity.” We'd love to see you at our Data Center & Investment Expo (DICE) on June 26 and 27 in Washington, DC!