Business finance provider Tokyo Century (TC) is investing in NTT’s Chicago data center campus in Illinois.
The news comes as NTT Data has also partnered with Schneider Electric for a new Edge computing offering.
Tokyo Century invests in NTT’s Chicago campus
The TC investment in Chicago will be made through one of its group companies, TC Global Investments Americas LLC, NTT Data said this week.
Terms of the investment weren’t shared, though TC described it as a deal to invest in data center businesses in the US and to jointly operate data centers with NTT Global Data Centers Americas, Inc.
NTT acquired its Chicago site in 2018 through its RagingWire subsidiary. Launched in 2021, the two-story CH1 provides 36MW across 126,000 sq ft (11,705 sqm).
CH1 was originally the first of two planned data centers on the 72MW campus, but NTT now says at full build-out, the campus will consist of three data centers and deliver a total of 104MW of IT capacity.
Late last year, NTT acquired two office buildings in Chicago adjacent to its existing campus and plans to demolish them for further data center development.
TC is a finance company that mainly provides leasing and installment services for equipment and machinery, as well as investments in securities, silent partnerships, and cash loans.
This is the third collaboration for data centers between the two companies, following a data center project in India in 2021, TC said.
“TC has identified investment in data center businesses as one of the main growth strategies in its medium-term management plan 2027,” the company said. “This investment focuses on collaboration with the NTT Group, which has exceptional knowledge and operates the world’s third-largest data center provider.”
NTT partners with Schneider at the Edge
NTT Data this week also announced a new Edge computing partnership with Schneider Electric.
The joint offering combines Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure data center modules with NTT Data’s Edge-as-a-Service managed service, and will be able to offer private 5G, IoT, and Edge services.
“We've listened to our customers and know that processing vast amounts of data generated by Edge devices is where the future of digital transformation lies,” said Shahid Ahmed, EVP New Ventures, and Innovation at NTT. “That's why we're excited to announce that we have the solution to meet these obstacles and are ready to lead the way towards a more connected and efficient digital world. We are thrilled at the prospect of what our continued collaboration with Schneider Electric means for the industrial and other sectors.”
Under the announcement, the companies said they are delivering the first private 5G-enabled deployment of an EcoStruxure Data Center at Marienpark Berlin in Germany.
The Marienpark site will be developed into a 30-hectare innovation park. The module will help deliver connectivity and compute experiences for users across the campus.
“Today’s innovation ecosystems in Marienpark increasingly depend on specific technological infrastructures," said Guido Schütte, managing director at Marienpark Berlin. "Easy-to-access computational power combined with advanced connectivity is a key issue.
"We need an innovative environment with such an infrastructure to satisfy future user demands of our community."
The companies said the new offering was initially co-developed at Schneider’s smart factory in Lexington, Kentucky.
Rob McKernan, president for the cloud and service provider segment at Schneider Electric, added: “After leveraging NTT Data’s expertise in private 5G connectivity and then maximizing synergies with our EcoStruxure architecture in our facilities, it’s time to expand our collaboration and bring a complete solution to industrial customers.”
“Together, we aim to assist global clients in adopting connected devices, specialized industrial solutions, and the right edge computing infrastructure with modular data centers to gain valuable data insights, particularly in the context of IoT and emerging AI requirements.”
