Originally published to Data Center POST. 

Part Two of a Data Center POST interview with AJ Byers, CEO of ROOT Data Center. To read Part One of this interview, please click here.

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 success over the past year, Montreal’s growth and prominence in the market and what to expect for the future of ROOT. For part one of this session, please click here.

Data Center POST, Sarah Chamberlain (DCP-SC) Question: In 2018, ROOT announced facility expansions at MTL-R1 and MTL-R2 that once completed, will bring 65MW of data center capacity to Montreal. Similarly, Montreal has become very popular among hyperscale cloud providers. How is the company positioning itself to be competitive in a crowded field?

ROOT Data Center, AJ Byers (RDC-AJ) Answer: At ROOT, we are always innovating to ensure we are meeting the needs of our end user customers. We believe that we have some fundamental differences as compared to many of our competitors. To start, we build capacity faster than any other provider in the industry, with multi-megawatt expansions taking only four to five months. We also have one of the most environmentally conscious and cost-effective implementations in the market.

We are evolving our operations to meet the changing needs of our customers in a number of ways. To start, ROOT is leveraging some of the most advanced AI technologies in the market, and is developing new tier level designs to meet the evolving needs of applications for the future. We also can deploy and effectively cool at some of the highest densities in the North American market. On top of all this, ROOT is partnering with some of the most advanced cloud on-ramp and network partners in the market as well. Ultimately, we are ensuring that all of this is possible with strong financial backing so that we can move quickly and ensure space, power and equipment is always restraint-free.

 

To read the full interview, please click here.