For years, data center site selection centered largely on two considerations: available power and physical space. Although both remain critical, they are no longer enough on their own. Organizations are evaluating how effectively a facility connects them to the networks and cloud environments their applications depend on.
Connectivity has become an important factor in data center site selection. Organizations are looking beyond traditional facility specifications to consider the range of network providers available and the ability to connect directly to cloud platforms and Internet Exchanges. As these requirements become more central to day-to-day operations, network density is playing a greater role in how organizations evaluate and select data center facilities.
What Network Density Actually Means
Network density goes beyond the number of carriers available within a facility. It also reflects the strength of the interconnection ecosystem and the connectivity options customers can access.
A network-dense data center gives organizations access to multiple network providers while creating more direct paths to cloud platforms and other infrastructure environments. Internet Exchange access can further improve traffic efficiency by allowing networks to peer directly rather than relying solely on traditional transit routes.
This broader connectivity ecosystem can have a direct impact on infrastructure performance. BDO’s Strategic Guide to Data Center Site Selection highlights the importance of robust connectivity and access to multiple fiber providers when evaluating performance and redundancy. It also notes that proximity to Internet Exchange Points can support more efficient connectivity and help reduce network-related costs.
Why Network Density Matters to Customers
The value of a data center’s connectivity ecosystem grows as more networks and platforms become available within the facility. Each new carrier or cloud connection gives existing customers additional ways to route traffic and connect their infrastructure.
This creates a network effect. As the ecosystem expands, customers gain greater flexibility in how they design and manage their network architecture. They are less dependent on a single provider and have more options to adapt connectivity as business or technical requirements change.
That flexibility is what separates a true interconnection ecosystem from a facility with limited network choice. Carrier-neutral environments give customers more control over how their infrastructure connects beyond the data center, making connectivity an increasingly important strategic consideration.
Cloud Access Is Influencing Site Selection
Cloud access has become especially important for organizations operating hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Many enterprise applications need to move data between colocation infrastructure and public cloud platforms, making the quality of those connections increasingly relevant to performance.
Direct cloud on-ramps provide private connectivity between data center infrastructure and cloud environments. For organizations running latency-sensitive applications or moving large volumes of data, these connections can offer a more predictable alternative to relying entirely on the public internet.
JLL’s 2026 Global Data Center Market Outlook reinforces the importance of balancing capacity with connectivity when evaluating data center markets. The report identifies speed-to-power as the leading site-selection criterion, while latency and proximity also rank among the most important considerations. This combination supports continued investment in regional data center hubs that can provide organizations with access to power while keeping infrastructure closer to users, networks, and cloud environments.
How 1547 Approaches Network Density
1547 incorporates connectivity and interconnection into its carrier-neutral colocation model, giving customers access to a range of network and cloud options across its portfolio. This hub-based approach, central to 1547’s interconnection strategy, allows organizations to support current network requirements while preserving flexibility as their infrastructure evolves.
MCT-IX: Connecting the U.S. and Latin America
A central part of that interconnection strategy is MCT-IX, the Internet Exchange owned and operated by 1547 at Chase Tower in McAllen, Texas. MCT-IX connects more than 46 networks across two meet-me rooms and supports port speeds up to 100G. Located at a key U.S.–Latin America gateway, the exchange gives networks, content providers, and other infrastructure operators a direct interconnection point for traffic moving between the United States and Latin America.
Portland: West Coast Network Density
1547’s Portland, OR (PTOR1) facility demonstrates network density at a larger scale. The facility provides access to 16 fiber carriers and more than 170 service providers, giving customers a broad range of options for network connectivity and interconnection. PTOR1 also serves as a termination point for seven subsea cables, hosts a regional Internet Exchange, and is an AWS Direct Connect location. Together, these resources make the facility one of the most interconnected buildings on the West Coast and an important connectivity hub for organizations operating across regional, national, and international networks.
Hawaii: Trans-Pacific Connectivity
In Hawaii, 1547’s AlohaNAP facility provides another strategic connection point for regional and trans-Pacific infrastructure. AlohaNAP became Hawaii’s first AWS Direct Connect location in 2024, giving organizations private access to AWS services directly from the islands. Together, AlohaNAP and DRFortress provide connectivity supporting Hawaii’s submarine cable systems, helping connect local infrastructure with major cloud, network, and international routes across the Pacific.
South Bend: A Midwest Connectivity Hub
Additionally, 1547’s South Bend facility extends this connectivity model into the Midwest, serving as a regional hub for organizations that need infrastructure positioned within reach of major Midwestern markets. The facility allows customers to establish regional deployments while maintaining access to broader network routes throughout the Midwest and beyond. This makes South Bend an important part of 1547’s strategy to pair regional data center capacity with the network access needed to connect distributed infrastructure.
Cheyenne: Extending Regional Reach
1547’s Cheyenne, Wyoming (CHWY1) facility illustrates how this model can support regional deployments. The carrier-neutral facility offers multiple lit and dark providers, redundancy across four network carriers, and low-latency connectivity to major data center hubs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas. These connectivity options allow customers to deploy infrastructure in Cheyenne while maintaining access to major network markets.
Building for the Future
Power and space will remain important factors in data center planning, particularly as AI and other compute-intensive workloads require more infrastructure capacity. At the same time, capacity alone is not enough to support the demands of increasingly distributed IT environments.
As hybrid cloud adoption grows, organizations are placing more value on facilities with strong network ecosystems. Data centers that provide access to a broad range of networks and cloud platforms are better positioned to support the connectivity requirements of modern applications.
For 1547, connectivity and interconnection are built into the colocation offering. This approach gives customers greater flexibility to connect infrastructure across multiple environments while supporting growth across 1547’s expanding data center portfolio. The strongest data centers will not just house infrastructure; they will connect it, a principle reflected across 1547’s growing footprint.