Data-center developers flock to metro Phoenix

Metro Phoenix has become one of the top-10 markets for developers of data centers, where companies large and small house their equipment for connecting digitally to customers, employees and suppliers. Analysts speaking at a data-center seminar in Chandler on Friday said the Phoenix area's growing prominence within the industry is a result of geographic and economic factors. Proximity to major West Coast markets, relatively low taxes, a low risk of natural disasters and cheap, reliable energy are just a few of the many benefits of operating a data center in Arizona, they said. "For all the right reasons, Phoenix has been a great staple and a great market," said Mark Bauer, national director of commercial-real-estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle's Data Center Solutions group and one of the Chandler seminar's speakers. Bauer and fellow Jones Lang LaSalle data-center analyst Carter Robinson also explained how industry trends such as higher space efficiency, increased modularity and a greater emphasis on redundancy have spurred a wave of new data-center development in top markets.

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