You have been seeing the term “purpose-built” often in messages from data center providers lately. We say it, not because it’s the latest industry buzzword but because it truly represents CoreSite’s long established strategy, which is to design the data centers we operate with a specific intention. This enables us to meet the myriad, changing needs of our cloud provider, enterprise and network service provider clients now and in the future.
Let’s unpack at a high level what I mean by that, borrowing from the Gartner inaugural Market Guide for Data Center Colocation 2025, which illuminates evolving industry trends to “help heads of I&O [infrastructure and operations] understand the market, identify vendors and make informed purchasing decisions.”
Three Important Differentiators
The new Gartner Market Guide is both succinct and encompassing, which is no small feat. I’ll strike on just three key areas that show why we believe CoreSite is included as a representative vendor.
- Gartner divides colocation into two categories: retail (where enterprises rent smaller spaces; a rack/cage, cabinet or a few rows of gear) and wholesale (large, leased space on the scale of buildings, floors or data halls).
CoreSite provides both retail and wholesale colocation and operates data center campuses that join network-rich carrier hotels with purpose-built data centers equipped to support high density workloads. As a multi-tenant provider, our approach enables businesses to easily connect with the digital ecosystems essential to their workflows while enhancing client value. CoreSite also enables connections to single-tenant facilities, which often are home to hyperscalers, so that our clients can directly access the cloud services typically offered in facilities of that scale.
- Advanced cooling is a critical differentiator. Obviously, this primarily is about AI workloads. But don’t forget that liquid cooling can be used for many other use cases. CoreSite has offered liquid cooling in many of our data centers for over a decade, and we’ve recently delivered a custom pumping system for direct-to-chip cooling for a neocloud client, in our Chicago data center, CH2.
- High-speed, redundant connectivity is once again a top priority. Decades ago, “the network is the computer” was an accurate industry aphorism; today, “the network is the cloud” describes the importance of connectivity within digital infrastructure. Thanks to our history as a pioneer of direct cloud connections and, more recently, inter-site as well as inter-market networking, our data centers are a platform that organizations can use to align multi-cloud infrastructure requirements, across multiple markets, with desired outcomes.
The Purpose Within Purpose-Built
For the record, the providers included in the Market Guide are elite organizations and although we are competitors, we also share a common responsibility – to be the digital backbone for critical services and the economy, and to drive innovation. I think that’s the “purpose” within purpose-built.
I highly encourage you to read Gartner’s Market Guide for Data Center Colocation, which is available through our website and the links below.
Know More
The Market Guide for Data Center Colocation from Gartner highlights what matters most when evaluating providers — from reliable space and power to scalability, compliance and connectivity. We believe CoreSite’s recognition in this comprehensive guide reinforces our role as a trusted partner for today’s IT needs and tomorrow’s innovation.
Gartner is a trademark of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.