JLL is marketing 5,000 sites in the US that may be suitable for modular Edge data center deployments.

The real estate advisory firm this week announced it was working with Lumen Technologies and Schneider Electric to deliver ready-to-use modular data center solutions across the US for quick deployments

JLL said it will be able to quickly identify and secure sites across the US, including approximately 5,000 along Lumen’s fiber network, with the latter company providing connectivity and managed services to the sites. Schneider will provide its services around the design and construction of modular data centers to get sites operational within six to nine months.

The companies said the partnership will enable speedy deployments that are suitable for low-latency workloads.

“Our collaboration with JLL and Lumen Technologies provides our clients with options to handle the megatrends shaping business, cities, and consumers everywhere with solutions that are digital, sustainable, efficient, and built to scale,” said Michele Hix, VP strategic customers, North America operations, Schneider Electric. “We are excited to partner and help customers thrive in this evolving landscape, by responding to their needs faster through the accelerated deployment of Edge data centers.”

Vincent Provenzano, head of advanced solutions, VAR channel, Lumen, added: “Digital transformations and next-gen tech like AI require more than just speed to market. This agreement draws on an innovative Lumen portfolio to deliver solutions that increase efficiency and speed, and enable business growth.”

The JLL team is being led by executive MD Joe Smurdon and EVP Mark To.

“Most hyperscalers are struggling to keep up with GPU demand and are allocating their capacity to the larger corporates, which leaves middle-market companies in a lurch,” said Smurdon.

"Additionally, the time and capital required to bring additional computing capacity online takes several years, so these companies are forced to put band-aids on their legacy facilities; however, our approach allows for a modular solution to be up and running in a fraction of the time and cost. JLL, Lumen, and Schneider, together, provide the key speed-to-market solution that overcomes all these challenges associated with traditional data center builds.”