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Why Kansas City for Colocation?
The Kansas City Advantage for Colocation and Data Centers
Kansas City has a lot to offer especially to those looking at establishing a colocation presence or relocating a data center. We are geographically centered in the United States which means that we are located away from the coasts and the threat of hurricanes. We also have a low risk of black out thanks to efficient and well designed energy delivery infrastructure systems, and the cost of power in Kansas City is very reasonable especially considering the quality delivered. We are also one of the cross country fiber hubs and have a solid and diverse mix of Tier 1 providers with global networks as well as a very respectable group of alternate carriers and service providers. In addition, we are also located outside of high risk earthquake zones, and contrary to many misconceptions, Kansas City is not one of the top twenty tornado-prone cities based on the National Weather Service’s data for tornadic activity from 1950 through 2005.
Add to this a well-educated population with a tremendous work ethic, and it is easy to see why companies such as MasterCard, 1&1 Internet, Liberty Mutual, H&R Block, Hallmark Cards, US Bank, Cerner Corporation, the Internal Revenue Service, and Bank of America all have data center operations in Kansas City. It is certainly no wonder Kansas City has been named a Top 10 market to watch for data center build outs and has been ranked the second most affordable major market to operate a data center (source: The Boyd Company).
If that is not enough, then there are strong economic development groups such as the The Kansas City Area Development Council which has a team dedicated to the recruitment of data center projects. Kansas City also has an active and strong technology community including organizations such as KCnext, which 1102 GRAND is proud to be a founding partner of. KCnext builds on events that 1102 GRAND created and hosted along with the help of many supporting sponsors to regularly bring 200 – 300 of the region’s technology players together for developing business relationships and opportunities.