Brightlio Blog

As digital transformation sweeps across industries, colocation services are experiencing unprecedented demand. The trend has been clear: companies increasingly seek robust, secure, and economical options for their IT infrastructure. But where should businesses look to meet their growing colocation needs? Kansas City colocation may provide the answer.

In this article, we will explore:

• The unique advantages that Kansas City, Missouri brings to the colocation industry.
• Why Kansas City is an affordable location for data center services
• The range of connectivity options available in Kansas City
• The strategic advantage of Kansas City’s central location in the United States.

Let’s get started!

Kansas City Economy: A Steady Platform for Tech Growth

Kansas City’s tech economy is booming. This is driving demand for data center service. Cushman & Wakefield ranked Kansas City as their top emerging data center market in their “2024 Global Data Center Market Comparison.”

It was the third fastest-growing tech market in the US in 2022. One in every ten workers in Kansas City is employed in the tech industry. With over 3,800 tech companies in the region, KC ranks in the top 15 of large metros in terms of technology jobs per capita. This puts the city on par with Minneapolis, Dallas, Denver, and Columbus in this category.

Meta plans to invest $800 million in a 1 million square foot hyperscale data center at the Golden Plains Technology Park in Kansas City. The selection of the city rested on its access to fiber infrastructure and a strong talent pool. The facility aims to start operations in 2024, powered entirely by renewable energy.

Kansas City Offers Lower Cost Colocation

Are you looking for cheap colocation? A Kansas City data center has what you’re looking for.

The cost of power is one of the primary cost drivers of retail colocation services. The average wholesale electric price for the Kansas City market was $30 per MWh. That rate is the lowest in the nation. In addition, Missouri passed a special power rate for specific categories of consumers, lowering prices even further for data centers.

Kansas City has plentiful land at affordable prices. Google recently acquired 236 acres of land in Clay County, MO, for possible data center development. Meta has amassed almost 900 acres. The low cost of land not only drives data center development. It also drives costs down for colocation customers, making Kanas City an affordable location for data center services.

Kansas City Offers the Winning Combo of Connectivity and Location

Connectivity and location are both critical considerations when deciding where to locate a data center. Kansas City boasts a robust digital infrastructure and a central location, making it a compelling choice for businesses.

Kansas City has made significant investments to become a deeply connected city. It became the first Google Fiber city in 2012. It is now one of the most connected regions in the USA, with 5.5 million miles of fiber.

Both Sprint / T-Mobile and AT&T have major regional facilities in the metro. Unite Private Networks also offers a 100% fiber network headquartered in KC. UPN connects the city to 76 data centers nationally at speeds up to 100 Gbps, including the metros of Chicago, Des Moines, Denver, Omaha, Little Rock, Dallas, and San Antonio.

Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud offer availability zones in the Netrality data center. These availability zones mean Kansas City colocation customers can access public cloud services easily. The region is also home to the Kansas City Internet Exchange (KCIX). KCIX offers 10 locations for peering with zero port fees.

Kansas City’s central location in the United States further amplifies its appeal for colocation services. Situated in the heart of the country, a Kansas City data center allows you to service the entire US with low latency. Kansas City is a focal point for long-haul and transcontinental fiber networks. These advantages make KC an excellent location for data centers and disaster recovery services.

Leading Kansas City Data Center Providers

Kansas City has 16 colocation data centers and growing. Here are a few the Brightlio recommends to our clients:

Netrality Data Centers

Netrality’s 156,000-square-foot Kansas City data center site is located at 1102 Grand. The building is the main carrier hotel in the city. It is considered one of the most network-rich buildings in the Central Midwest.

Why we recommend this data center:

• Central, downtown Kansas City location.
• It is home to over 70 network operators, meaning colocation clients have plenty of connectivity options.
• It houses availability zones from both AWS and Google for direct connections to both public cloud providers.
• It meets HIPAA, PCI, and SOC 1 Type II compliance standards.
• Customers can leverage Netrality’s other sites in markets, including Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Indianapolis, for disaster recovery services or to serve a broader colocation strategy.

LightEdge

LightEdge operates a Tier 3 facility at 9050 NE Underground Drive. The facility is built 125 feet below the earth’s surface in a limestone mine, offering excellent security. It offers 45,000 square feet of space with redundant dark fiber paths to connect to the 1102 Grand carrier hotel building.

Why we recommend this location:

• Underground facility hardened against natural disasters for maximum reliability.
• Three levels of security checkpoints.
• Carrier-neutral site with a fully meshed network architecture.
• Convenient access to Kansas City International Airport
• With other locations, including Austin, San Diego, Phoenix, and Raleigh, LightEdge is a great partner for a national colocation strategy.

Joe’s Datacenter

Joe’s Datacenter focuses on affordable colocation and managed services for small businesses. The data center is located at 1325 Tracy Ave. Joe’s might have what you want if you are looking for a smaller provider with higher-touch customer service.

Why we recommend this data center:

• They focus on affordable colocation for small businesses, cost effectively delivering colo.
• Local provider in the market with a small mom-and-pop business feel.
• They offer additional services, including bare metal servers, VPS servers, private cloud, virtual desktops, and managed services.

Kansas City Colocation Pricing

Kansas City colocation pricing is among the lowest in the nation. Single server colocation with 1 Gbps of network connectivity starts as low as $45 per month. A quarter rack (10RU) starts around $300 monthly. Half rack colocation (20RU) starts around $465 per month. A full rack with 1 Gbps of bandwidth and a /28 block of IPv4 address space costs around $860. If your business needs dedicated server hosting, you can find solutions in Kansas City starting as low as $10 per month.

If you provide us with your approximate budget and technical requirements, our team will source Kansas City data center pricing from a number of partners. We do the work of reaching out to providers, so that you don’t have to. The quotes are free and there is no obligation.

Brightlio Delivers Kansas City Colocation Services!

Are you interested in a data center in Kansas City, Missouri? Brightlio can help. As a telecommunications broker, we partner with a network of global providers, allowing us to deliver colocation solutions that meet your needs and budget. We work with the providers to gather quotations, eliminating the need for you to source multiple quotes.

Additionally, we offer network connectivity, cloud, unified communications, SD-WAN, and advisory services. Our broad service offering means we can provide a complete technology solution for your business. We are committed to being your most trusted and responsive technology solutions provider.

Get started with Brightlio today!