Cloud and carrier-neutral data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions provider Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) has announced the opening and construction of new data centres in Canada and France.

Firstly, the REIT has announced the opening of its latest North American data centre in downtown Toronto, opening up 800kw and 6,900 ft² of new colocation facilities. 

The new YYZ12 data centre, Digital Realty’s third data centre in Greater Toronto, will be fully interconnected with redundant dark fibre paths to Digital Realty’s TOR1 data centre in Vaughan. 

The company has also broken ground on its fourth centre of data exchange in the southern port city of Marseille in France. 

The new MRS4 site is expected to offer up to 13.6 megawatts (MW) of customer capacity, as well as direct access to 14 submarine cable systems which land in Marseille, extending the global reach of PlatformDIGITAL with connectivity options between the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

A. William Stein, CEO of Digital Realty, said: “Together these new capabilities in Toronto and Marseille represent a strategic milestone on Digital Realty’s global roadmap for PlatformDIGITAL in North America and EMEA. 

“Over the last 18 months since we announced our platform vision and strategy, we have introduced over 20 new data centre expansion projects around the globe. As enterprises across all industries rapidly shifted to digital business models during an unprecedented year, the global number of participants in our connected data communities more than doubled to over 4,000 organisations.”

Toronto is a more critical market than ever as businesses recognise the growing importance of the region as one of the next major technology hubs in North America. 

The city is a major hub of data attraction for financial services, banking, and the insurance industries. The Data Gravity Index DGX reveals that the city is in the top 10 metros in terms of growth in data gravity intensity for these sectors through 2024.

Digital Realty’s new downtown data centre will be fully interconnected with new Metro Connect capabilities, forming a connected campus environment for Digital Realty’s customers in Toronto.