‘On A Tear’: US Signal Makes Eighth Data Center Buy This Year
'We’ve been on a tear from a growth perspective,' US Signal’s John White tells CRN. 'Once we complete the One Neck acquisition, which should happen in the next few weeks, we will have added eight new data centers to our portfolio.’
“We’ve been on a tear from a growth perspective,” US Signal’s John White told CRN on Monday. “Once we complete the One Neck acquisition, which should happen in the next few weeks, we will have added eight new data centers to our portfolio.”
Terms of the deal, which was announced last week, were not disclosed.
The site was previously owned by tech giant DXC Technology and prior to that by HP, according to Data Center Dynamics, a site that covers the data center industry.
The latest buy in Michigan is in Auburn Hills, the one-time home of the Detroit Pistons, which will now host US Signal’s 76,000-square-feet of space. US Signal said the new facility is online now and can expand to 8 megawatts. White said the channel has been calling to demand more.
“They’re the ones chomping at the bit. We had somebody say, ‘The 8 MW is great. We want 10 MW. How do we get that done?’ So we were on the phone with the power company this morning talking about that and that all came through our channel.”
It will be staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Additionally, it will feature top tier multi-level security measures to meet Tier III standards. The building has 17,000 square feet of raised floor space, which is expected to grow to 40,000 soon, White said, to accommodate more power.
US Signal was founded in 2001. It was single-owner led until the private equity company Igneo Infrastructure Partners, which has $19.2 billion under management, purchased it in February 2023.
In June, US Signal announced its intention to buy OneNeck IT Solutions, for an undisclosed amount. OneNeck IT Solutions was named to CRN’s 2024 list of the MSP Elite 150.
In addition to buying inventory through acquisition, the company built out the firm’s Indianapolis data center from an existing facility and brought it online in seven months.
“That one is an incredible story. We made that purchase December first,” White told CRN. “Started working on it in January. Got that up for our first customers in July. That was phase one. Phase two comes online in Q1 of 2025, which will take it to a 2 MW facility.”
The latest Michigan purchase boosts US Signal’s presence in the Detroit metro area, giving it three data centers total in the region. It also marks the company’s fifth data center in Michigan and it is the 16th across the U.S.
“We have two in Grand Rapids and three in Detroit metro area,” he said. “One by the airport. Southfield would be considered west Detroit. This new one would be north. So we literally have Detroit surrounded.”
Detroit, he said, is a sweet spot for data center providers. It has a temperate climate, ease of access to transportation, an educated workforce, and data center providers can still access power.
“There’s some tax incentives inside of Michigan that make sense for running facilities like ours,” he said. “Michigan is very protected from natural disasters. It’s pretty constant from a climate perspective. So you don’t have the 150-degree days you have in Arizona or Nevada. It’s a key state.”
White said the supply chain issues in data center are reality, and U.S. Signal is selling power capacity as fast as the firm can make it.
“That was literally the conversation I was having with the CEO this morning,” White told CRN. “I said, ‘If we sell out the capacity this quick I’m going to be a little ticked. I thought I was getting the sales team from breathing down my neck saying, ‘Where’s the capacity?’ We are building as fast as we possibly can right now.”