The York Region Data Centre Cluster
Source: techvibes.com
With growing demand for enterprise-quality facilities in the Toronto market, the global data centre battlefield has come to Canada. However, limited supply and the lack of space for building new data centres are sending providers to the surrounding suburbs, including the North East region of the GTA, such as Markham, York Region.
This has spelled good news for Markham, which also boasts the lowest business property taxes in the GTA as an added draw. Mr. Borron described Markham as “a focal point in York Region,” and the city has huge appeal for data centre development. “Markham offers a good supply of IT talent, fiber, power, closeness to banking centres, and lots of tech companies,” he said.
The recent announcements of continued IT infrastructure building in Markham (and across the other southern York Region municipalities of Richmond Hill and Vaughan) reflect an established data centre cluster in the area, including recognizable names such as IBM, Rogers, Compugen, OnX, and HP. Of particular noteworthiness is Vaughn-based SCINET—Canada’s largest supercomputer data centre—a High Performance Computing consortium of the University of Toronto and affiliated Ontario hospitals.
New technology adoption holds great promise for Canada over the next few years: It is part of a process, as Mr. Dutta explained, beginning with an acceleration of customer comfort levels into the cloud, followed by creating customer success in the category. ”The cloud and data centre is scratching the surface” and Canadian companies will have a greater ability to “sink money into innovation and product development,” Dutta added. This is a great recipe for success, allowing more Canadian companies to have a stronger presence in the global economy.
Data centres are the new symbols of economic prosperity—in a suburb near you.
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The Regional Municipality of York is located in the heart of the Greater Toronto Area and is home to 1.1 million residents and 42,000 business establishments, making it one of Canada’s largest municipalities and the second largest business centre in the Province of Ontario.
Comprised of nine local municipalities, York Region is a premier business location in Canada. The Region is home to operations of 14 Fortune 100 companies, four of Canada’s top 10 corporate R&D investors, Canada’s second largest Information & Communications Technology (ICT) cluster and global industry leaders in Life Sciences, CleanTech, Financial Services and Advanced Manufacturing.
As Canada’s fastest growing large municipality, York Region has one of the most educated and diverse workforces in North America, the lowest commercial property taxes in greater Toronto and an exceptional quality of life attracting top global talent.
York Region’s local municipalities include the City of Markham, the City of Vaughan, the Town of Richmond Hill, the Town of Newmarket, the Town of Aurora, the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, the Town of East Gwillimbury, the Town of Georgina and the Township of King.