Atlanta-based DC BLOX is delivering much-needed IT infrastructure and bandwidth to growing, but largely underserved, “edge” markets in the Southeast United States. By providing state-of-the-art cloud storage powered by Seagate Data Storage Systems, internet access, and colocation services to customers off the beaten path, DC BLOX is enabling innovation and digital transformation for the businesses and communities they serve.
Their mission statement: “DC BLOX exists to empower growing communities where secure, reliable multi-tenant data centers and rich connectivity options are limited. Our foundational infrastructure enables businesses to succeed in today’s digital economy.”
Providing Vital Infrastructure and Cloud Services
Founded in 2014, the DC BLOX team recognized that communities across the Southeast US did not have state-of-the-art local data center options and were not able to take full advantage of the cloud computing revolution. The dominant international data center providers centered around larger cities, usually hundreds of miles away. Such distances from data center resources can mean these communities are basically “at the edge” where many applications are impractical, especially those that are latency-sensitive. Additionally, these communities often have limited choices for reliable high-speed networks. Early on, DC BLOX understood that proximity to data center resources and access to a high-speed network are essential for any entity to successfully participate and compete in the global digital economy.
Dedicated to Communities
DC BLOX takes a community-first approach with a philosophy to “serve locally and connect globally.” The company serves a diverse customer base, from startup business incubators and nonprofits to industry-disrupting technology and biotech firms. DC BLOX employees and executives also volunteer their time and partner with local governments and organizations with an understanding that strong, accessible technology infrastructure empowers progress and growth.
Since its founding, DC BLOX has steadily increased their data center footprint while roughly doubling revenue every year. As of this writing, DC BLOX has four data centers online: Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, TN and Huntsville, AL. Two more data centers are under construction in Greenville, SC and Highpoint, NC with another 13 planned across the region.
In serving this market, DC BLOX appears to be in the right place at the right time. Midsize cities are growing across the country as the pandemic has reordered remote work and big city living has become less affordable. At the same time, midsize cities are emerging hotbeds of technical innovation, biotech research and traditional manufacturing.
The DC BLOX success story has not gone unnoticed. In June of 2021, they in recognition of their outstanding performance among Americas data centers and for providing exceptional data center services to their customers. Then in August, Inc. Magazine recognized DC BLOX’s exceptional status among the top 8% of America’s fastest growing private companies. Built on a solid foundation and managed by a highly-experienced executive team, it seems likely DC BLOX will be hitting on all cylinders for some time to come.
Cloud Storage Enabled by Seagate
Behind the scenes, DC BLOX has pursued a very deliberate and robust architectural strategy, building fully-redundant Tier III data centers with best-in-class facilities, networking, compute and storage that deliver maximum uptime, security and performance. DC BLOX also supports these data centers by building and maintaining their own private high-speed network across the region.
Since the early days of DC BLOX, Seagate has been a strategic storage provider. Today, about 20 petabytes of storage infrastructure is built directly on Seagate Data Storage Systems, including RBODs like the Exos X 5U84 and JBODs like the Exos E 4U106. DC BLOX chose Seagate to underpin critical storage infrastructure because of Seagate’s unmatched reliability, support and price/performance ratio.
Chris Gatch, CTO for DC BLOX sums it up: “Seagate provides the perfect storage systems for much of our infrastructure. For example, we use Seagate iSCSI RBODs for object storage and our performance backup tier. They are simply great products with unbeatable TCO (total cost of ownership) and they really punch above their weight in terms of performance. We know of no other storage systems that even come close.”
Seagate is pleased to have the opportunity to provide DC BLOX with fundamental technology and infrastructure as they ultimately work to strengthen the communities they serve.