Data Center POST interview with Tom Brown, CEO, DataGryd

By Contributing Editor Sarah Chamberlain

Tom Brown is President and CEO of DataGryd, a premier data center provider in Manhattan and the largest single footprint data center in New York City, located in the iconic 60 Hudson Street carrier hotel. Tom brings over 25 years of leadership experience to the DataGryd team, where he is responsible for planning and implementing strategy, as well as managing the overall revenue growth for the company. Recently, he was recognized on Capacity Magazine’s 2019 Power 100 List, the first global index of the most influential individuals in the wholesale carrier community.

Data Center POST recently sat down with Tom to chat about how the company is evolving to tackle industry challenges and what’s coming next.

Data Center POST, Sarah Chamberlain (DCP-SC) Question: What does DataGryd do and what problems are you attempting to solve?

DataGryd, Tom Brown (DG-TB) Answer:  DataGryd is a premier data center located at the iconic 60 Hudson street here in NYC. We have 120,000 square feet of space that span two floors and a total of 15 MW of power, 12 of which are a direct feed from the utility. We also have the ability to mitigate the monthly cross-connect burden. Through Datagryd’s Direct Connect product, you can have a 4-inch conduit built to one of your major partners without paying a monthly recurring charge for fiber cross-connects. In summary, the two problems that we are solving are 1) providing a customized, dense power application and 2) mitigating the cross-connect burden and saving you a substantial amount of money on a monthly and annual basis.

DCP-SC Q: What do you attribute to DataGryd’s success?

DG-TB A: We attribute our success to being able to build and leverage a premier data center in one of the globe’s most densely-populated data hubs.

DCP-SC Q: What milestones did you achieve in the past year, your initial year as the company’s new CEO, and how will these developments help DataGryd keep up with the demands of the quickly growing and ever-changing telecommunications industry?

DG-TB A: In the past year, we have commissioned a 60,000 square foot floor, where we are building out a 1 MW data hall that will be ready for service in June of this year. We will be able to service clients from 100KW up to 5 MW.

DCP-SC Q: What are you most looking forward to accomplishing over the next year? The next 3-5 years?

DG-TB A: In the next year we are looking forward to selling our 1 MW megasuite hall, while in the next 3- 5 years we hope to have the floor completely occupied.

DCP-SC Q: What do you think is the greatest challenge in the industry and how are you working to overcome it?

DG-TB A: I think the greatest challenge as a whole is making sure we are properly positioned for the emergence of 5G, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. The good news is that Datagryd has evolved into an edge data center that can certainly adapt to the requirements of these new technologies.

DCP-SC Q: What new developments are on the horizon for DataGryd?

DG-TB A: Mainly, we’re looking at the completion of our 1 MW megasuite to be finalized by June of this year.

DCP-SC Q: Thanks so much for chatting with us. Tom and the DataGryd team will be attending ITW 2019 in Atlanta from June 23-26, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency and Marriott Marquis hotels and welcome the opportunity to meet with you.  Request a meeting with the team here and visit www.datagryd.com to learn more about DataGryd’s NYC data center and its MegaSuite 6 build-out.