Originally posted to Telecom Ramblings by Rob Powell

The data center space has evolved rapidly over the last few years, driven by the insatiable appetite from the hyperscale and cloud community.  As a result, new participants have risen up with new ways of building and operating data centers.  One such company is STACK INFRASTRUCTURE.  With us today to talk about STACK’s current projects and its approach to the marketplace is the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, Matt VanderZanden.

TR: What is your background, and what was your journey to your current role at STACK INFRASTRUCTURE?

MVZ: I actually began my professional career practicing real estate law. I always knew I wanted to do something beyond that, but it was a great way to learn about the nuts and bolts of real estate development. And then, I got involved in data center development on the legal side on behalf of Facebook, which was a great place to learn about the data center business.  Big companies have lots of things going for them but they also tend to push you into a more focused role, and I was interested in kind of spreading out and learning about more pieces of the data center business. The STACK opportunity came along a little over two years ago and seemed like a great opportunity to try new things and learn even more about the business side of data centers than I had in the past. So I made the jump.

TR: What are the origins of STACK, and what does the company’s infrastructure look like today?

MVZ: Our investor, IPI, acquired big chunks of T5 Data Centers and Infomart, which comprised performing assets in six different markets here in the US. Then they layered on some additional acquisitions later, and rolled it up under STACK INFRASTRUCTURE. Today we have operating data centers and expansion parcels in what I would consider to be most of the biggest data center markets here in the US: Silicon Valley, Hillsboro, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, New Albany, Atlanta, and Northern Virginia. We also have land in Phoenix. Between all of those, we feel like we’re able to offer our clients the flexibility to go to any one of the major markets  here in the US. We are focused for the most part on wholesale data center colocation and build-to-suits for large scale consumers of data.

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