T5 Data Centers Targets Growth in Construction, Facilities Management

T5 Data Centers says it is focusing on the growing opportunity to help other companies build and operate their data centers. The Atlanta-based company says it will triple its staff as it builds larger teams in its construction and facilities management units.

T5 Data Centers has a long history building data centers for leading technology firms. In April it announced an investment from global real estate company QuadReal Property Group, along with plans to create a platform to provide “holistic” solutions for enterprise and hyperscale users.

Staffing services are filling an increasingly important role in the data center industry, helping offset a “grey tsunami” of experienced workers approaching retirement age, even as the explosive growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence drive demand for more data centers – and more skilled labor to staff them. There is also a growing need to support construction teams, which in some markets are working overtime to keep pace with rapid growth.

To meet those needs,  T5 said this week that it plans to expand its staff from approximately 150 to more than 400 employees by year end.

This strategy is shaped by both internal and external trends:

• Most of the company’s growth is focused on in its services divisions, T5 Facilities Management (T5FM) and T5 Construction Services (T5CS).
• Data center development has seen an influx of investors with ambitions to build large data center platforms. A number of these new players will be seeking expertise in building and operating data centers.

“After building data centers for more than a decade, we are seeing changes in the market, and so we are adapting our operation and scaling to meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Pete Marin, President and CEO of T5 Data Centers. “We know how to build and operate our own data centers, and we are taking what we have learned about hyperscale and enterprise computing and outsourcing our expertise to help other organizations achieve the same degree of reliability and performance.”

Strong Growth in Services Business

T5 Facilities Management was formed in 2014 to provide turnkey services for T5 tenants, and provides services, including remote hands, property and asset management, consulting, and training. T5FM has seen strong traction in recent years, adding 11 new facilities as clients in 2018.

T5 Construction Services initially directed construction in new T5 facilities, but now offers construction consulting and services including turnkey data hall construction, facility upgrades, equipment procurement, project management and consulting, and green energy projects.

T5 Data Centers was an early player in the market for build-to-suit wholesale data centers. initially focusing on single-tenant facilities for marquee tenants. T5 helped establish western North Carolina as a key data center destination, and soon expanded to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Portland, Colorado Springs, suburban New York, Chicago and Ireland.