Digital Edge (Singapore) and Japanese real estate developer Hulic have agreed to build a carrier-neutral data centre facility in downtown Tokyo, Japan.
The project, known as TYO7, is designed to provide much needed interconnect focused colocation capacity to one of the world’s largest data centre markets as Digital Edge further establishes its platform across Asia Pacific.
“This strategic project is another important step in our journey to build a regional platform and establish a thriving digital ecosystem across Asia.”
Samuel Lee, chief executive officer, Digital Edge
He added: “We are pleased to partner with Hulic, a well-respected Tokyo based real estate developer, to leverage their local market knowledge alongside our data centre know-how to provide much needed digital infrastructure capacity in the heart of Tokyo.”
The Tokyo data centre market is valued at USD $2.2bn (as of 2021). However, growing demand is hampered by the limited land available for data centre development. In the dense downtown area of the Japanese capital building retail colocation space in a central location is highly sought after by network, cloud, and enterprise customers.
Tadashi Nakajima, senior executive managing officer at Hulic, expressed optimism on the company’s first venture into the data centre market. ,
“As we look towards the future, we are excited to commence our first data centre operation and development project at such an important site in Hulic’s history. Digital Edge’s experienced management team with their proven track record in Asia make an ideal partner for us as we establish a foothold in Tokyo’s fast growing data centre industry and continue to offer the essential services our customers need to thrive.”
Catering to unmet needs
TYO7 is an interconnect focused project designed to address this unmet demand and further enhance the Digital Edge ecosystem in Tokyo.
The new facility will be situated only 1 km from Otemachi, the central network hub of Japan, and less than 300m from the company’s existing TYO2 site (formerly known as ComSpace I), which is one of the most network dense data centres in Tokyo. Cross Link and additional third party carrier connectivity solutions will provide customers with a variety of options to access Digital Edge’s virtual Tokyo campus as well as other key data centres in the metro.
“This project marks our ninth data centre in Japan and will provide depth to our existing platform, offering much needed high quality colocation and interconnection options to customers in downtown Tokyo,” said Kei Furuta, president & chief revenue officer, Digital Edge.
“This small but strategically located site will complement our other facilities that cater to enterprise, hyperscale and high power density applications, as we further contribute to the development of Japan’s vital digital infrastructure.”
Kei Furata, Digital Edge
Located in the Nihonbashi-Kobuna-cho district the new facility will sit in a dark fibre rich area in close proximity to the financial district, making it ideally located both for domestic and international carriers, as well as major enterprise customers looking to expand their network and IT infrastructure in the metro.
It will also serve as a natural extension for existing TYO2 customers. TYO7 will operate under the Digital Edge brand name and is expected to be Ready-for-Service in early 2025.
