New Research Informs Strategic Decisions and Reveals How Colocation Shapes Modern IT Strategy

The rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is driving today’s digital transformation and changing the world like we’ve never seen before. In the face of this change, organizations still need to find the right place to run the IT workloads that support our digital economy and everyday lives.

As a colocation data center provider, we hear about this ongoing challenge from our customers and look for ways to help inform strategic IT decisions and future-proof their businesses.

The 2026 State of the Data Center Report provides insights into how enterprises are leveraging hybrid architectures that integrate colocation data centers, public cloud and on-premises environments to achieve agility, performance and control across diverse workloads, including high-compute AI applications. The survey also reveals why CIOs trust colocation data centers to deliver the security, cloud access and AI scale their businesses need.

Here are three key takeaways.

1. Hybrid IT is the Standard Operating Model

Enterprises are implementing hybrid IT architectures that allow them to place the right workloads in the right environment. By aligning workloads across colocation data centers, public cloud and on-premises solutions, enterprises help ensure consistent performance and match the requirements of specific workloads.

This strategic focus has shifted decision-making criteria to more heavily weigh performance, security, data control and seamless interconnections, according to the research. The survey also shows that colocation data centers have become linchpins of a hybrid strategy, highlighting security (40%), uptime (36%) and flexibility (30%) as top drivers for colocation adoption.

2. Colocation with Direct Cloud Connections is a Must-Have

Widespread adoption of hybrid IT has shone a spotlight on reliable, secure interconnections between multiple IT infrastructures. Survey data underscores this point with 100% of IT leaders rating direct cloud interconnection as important when choosing a colocation provider, and a record 79% considering it very important.

Colocation data centers like CoreSite that offer on-site cloud on-ramps to multiple public cloud providers are an essential component of a hybrid strategy, providing secure, low-latency cloud access with reduced egress fees.

3. Colocation and Hybrid Environments are Trusted for
AI Production Workloads

To keep pace with the speed, scale and complexity of IT innovation, CIOs are rethinking their IT strategies. The report reveals that 69% of CIOs prefer colocation data centers and hybrid environments for their resource-intensive AI production applications, a 47% increase since last year.

While colocation and hybrid infrastructure have gained favor, on-premises AI deployments have shrunk from 46% to 18% in the last year. This shift suggests a growing awareness of the need for a highly connected, high-density environment to support AI production workloads.

Finding the Right Mix and Partner

A trusted partner with a robust, interconnected and accessible ecosystem can be a key differentiator for organizations as they develop and adapt their IT infrastructure models. The 2026 report also offers conversation starters to help organizations assess potential partners and architect solutions that elevate their IT strategies.

Know More

Now in its seventh year, the 2026 State of the Data Center research, conducted by Foundry, surveyed more than 300 CIOs, CTOs and other IT decision-makers representing a variety of industry sectors. In addition to the online survey, Foundry conducted in-depth interviews with seven senior technology executives from enterprise organizations in the financial services, healthcare, retail and SaaS sectors.

Download the 2026 State of the Data Center Report to learn how IT leaders are leveraging hybrid IT and colocation data centers to balance diverse technical requirements.