Originally published to Data Center POST. 

Data Center POST interview with AJ Byers, CEO of ROOT Data Center

By Contributing Editor Sarah Chamberlain

AJ Byers is CEO of ROOT Data Center, a leading Montreal firm that specializes in next-generation colocation that goes beyond reliability and security. AJ leverages over 20 years of experience in the data center industry to support and promote business growth and transformation. Prior to joining ROOT, AJ served as President of Rogers Data Centers, where he was instrumental in leading the team in the development of one of Canada’s largest data center service companies. Additionally, as Executive VP of Primus, he guided the company from its status as a legacy telecom provider, transforming it into a full solution technology services organization.

Data Center POST recently sat down with AJ to discuss the company’s role in a sustainable future, how the industry as a whole can benefit from artificial intelligence and more.

Data Center POST, Sarah Chamberlain (DCP-SC) Question: The death of the enterprise data center has been speculated about throughout 2018 and Canada in particular is seeing this trend play out as more companies are offloading the cost of operating a facility. How did you see this playing out in the Montreal market over the past year and what developments can we expect looking forward?

ROOT Data Center, AJ Byers (RDC-AJ) Answer: Canada has lagged behind other parts of the world in terms of cloud adoption. This is due to the fact that there hasn’t been a true in-country large scale cloud option until just a couple of years ago. We’re expecting to see this transition happen here at an increasing rate throughout the next one to four years, but the migration has certainly begun already as we’re seeing cloud operators with local presences grow quickly.

Since major players like AWS, Azure, Google and SoftLayer have established themselves in Canada, I think we can expect to see a couple of things, starting with the next phase of cloud companies looking to Montreal for their operations. This means that enterprises will have access to more than just Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in Canada as Software as a Service (SaaS) companies quickly follow. Also, enterprises that cannot fully deploy cloud will start to look to hybrid solutions in partnership with a data center with a flexible on-ramp offering, like ROOT’s most recent announcement with Megaport.

 

To read the full interview, please click here.