Shipping and logistics giant FedEx Corp. has signed a 10-year deal with Switch to provide infrastructure and network connectivity for FedEx’s western U.S. data center, the companies said today.
Switch will deliver 2.5 megawatts of power capacity on the company’s Las Vegas campus, with the FedEx footprint expanding to up to 8 megawatts over 10 years.
The presence at Switch will provide FedEx with access to 100 percent renewable energy, as well as multiple telecom network services via Switch’s Las Vegas connectivity hub, which ties into a fiber network and international cable landing stations.
“Switch provides world class hyperscale data centers for the digital-ready enterprise,” said Rob Carter, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of FedEx Corporation. “With its ability to sustainably power our digital infrastructure for the next decade, this solution supports our future-forward vision of where technology is headed while significantly reducing our network expense for years to come.”
Switch founder and CEO Rob Roy said that adding FedEx to the company’s client ecosystem offers “endless opportunities for collaboration and technology advancement around their rapidly-expanding business portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services.”
Roy said that Switch’s commitment to 100 percent clean energy enhances the FedEx global citizenship initiative to decrease the company’s environmental footprint and achieve its sustainability goals.
“This marks the beginning of a remarkable relationship with many opportunities to grow in the coming years,” said Roy.
Switch and FedEx are both sponsors of FIRST Robotics, founded by Dean Kamen. Kamen, who also worked with FedEx on the development of the FedEx SameDay Bot, was pleased with the agreement, saying,
“It is very exciting that these two amazing technology infrastructure players can come together to achieve superior technology results,” said Karen. “I look forward to our continued work with both companies on the success of the FIRST Robotics Program.”
Switch operates one of the largest cloud campuses in the world at its Las Vegas CORE Campus, where it has more than 2 million square feet of data center space. Over the past three years, Switch has been growing in new markets, opening the Citadel Campus in Reno, Nevada and the Pyramid Campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and announcing a new campus near Atlanta. Upon completion, these projects will bring more than 10 million square feet of data center space online.
The company has also been leveraging its intellectual property, which includes several hundred assigned or pending patents for technology created by Switch founder Rob Roy. Switch recently licensed several of its patented designs for data center cooling technology to Vertiv.
Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution.