Every New Year presents new opportunity to evolve and optimize your IT operations. For many enterprises, this means evaluating their current tech stack, identifying opportunities to discontinue investments in outdated legacy software and hardware, optimize their current tech stack and identify gaps to fill with modern software and hardware solution purchases.
A sequential next step in this process is considering where to house your IT infrastructure to realize optimal performance and gain competitive edge. After all, where you centralize your infrastructure is a crucial business decision that directly impacts your bottom line. Fortunately, those enterprises with 2021 aspirations of centralizing infrastructure in the Midwest to reduce latency and ensure uptime now have a compelling opportunity in Chicago.
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Chicago’s cloud availability, fiber connectivity and development pipeline have made the city a premier colocation destination. That is why CoreSite has recently expanded its national ecosystem of network-rich, cloud-enabled data center campuses in strategic edge markets in Chicago, introducing anew 18MW, purpose-built data center known as CH2 connecting via multiple dark fiber routes back to Ch1.
CH2 is the ideal home to support hybrid and multi-cloud strategies. The downtown location, robust ecosystem, and ability to provide scalable, modern data center space make it the perfect location for enterprises looking to enable digital transformation and support mission critical IT applications. What makes this location even better? The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Data Center Investment Program.
Realize a 10.25% Sales Tax Exemption Inside the Very First Purpose-built Data Center in Downtown Chicago
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (ILDCEO) launched a tax incentive program designed to promote economic development opportunities in Illinois. The goal is to attract enterprises, and ease the burden on businesses purchasing computer equipment and software, as well as one-time costs associated with installation and deployment.
This is great news for CoreSite customers and prospects.We’ve recently obtained approval from the State of Illinois to participate in the Data Center Investment Program. This allows us to pass through a 10.25% sales tax exemption, renewable in 5-year increments through August 2040, to customers in our CH2 location on the purchase of equipment (including maintenance) and software costs on items deployed within CH2.
Practically, it means that in many cases any new deployments will realize a tangible cost savings. The tax savings for participating customers purchasing equipment or licensing software with data center footprints, (from a small cage to a private suite within CH2) can potentially cover a significant portion of the cost of a three-year colocation agreement.
In example, the following scenario illustrates a customer deploying in CH2 with a 200 kilowatt license and purchasing 30 cabinets at $500,000 per cabinet. The tax implication on dollar per kilowatt basis amount to savings of $214 per kilowatt, significantly impacts the customer’s total cost of ownership as further detailed in the table below.
More importantly, the tax exemption creates a unique opportunity for customers to take advantage of the tax incentive program. This allows enterprises to refresh hardware, and locate mission-critical infrastructure and operations in a brand new high-density and hyper-connected colocation facility.
Scale with a hyperconnected ecosystem
CH2 is the only purpose-built, Tier III designed, large scale data center in the city’s central business district. As part of CoreSite’s Chicago campus, the facility’s location adjacent to the region’s largest internet exchange hub and connected back to CoreSite’s network and cloud hub at CH1 gives CH2 tenants immediate, reliable access to more than 40 native networks and on-ramps to major public cloud providers. This includes Microsoft Azure, AWS and others —as well as access to a community of over 325 cloud and IT providers to mix and match solutions for virtually any business need.
CH2’s location in a network dense, downtown address features three separate and diverse points of entry. Each of these points connect several native fiber routes through both the central business district and out of the metro region for lightning-fast connectivity to other cloud availability zones. This delivers more efficient data transport operations and more effective disaster recovery programs. The easy access to low-latency, scalable connectivity is ideal for organizations in virtually every industry or market, including everything from online gaming and securities trading to higher education and healthcare services.
The start of a new year is the ideal time to revisit your enterprise data strategy. Regardless of your business size, industry or market, it is imperative to continually look for ways to maximize connectivity options, performance and TCO. CoreSite’s CH2 data center offering—coupled with the Illinois tax incentive program—means there has never been a better time to re-evaluate your data and colocation strategies.