DigitalBridge Group Inc. has reportedly teamed up with ImpactData to provide digital learning infrastructure to under-resourced communities.
For the unversed, DigitalBridge is one of the world's largest digital infrastructure real estate investment trusts, managing approximately USD 35 billion in digital assets across five core digital infrastructure verticals, namely data centers, fiber networks, macro cell towers, edge infrastructure, and small cells.
ImpactData collaborates with universities and colleges to develop secure colocation data centers that provide businesses with reliable access to their workloads while allowing underserved areas to grow digitally. It aims to invest over USD 1 billion in digital learning infrastructure over the next decade as part of its Data Centers Empowered initiative.
The Georgia-based firm is introducing a first-of-its-kind network of distributed, edge data centers based on an inclusion-based distribution model. In addition to DigitalBridge, the firm partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to provide proximate, superior power data center capacity in any size, deployment, or scale.
This interconnected ecosystem will allow businesses to use their "Data for Good" to improve student learning, keep HBCUs afloat, and transform historically underserved neighborhoods.
Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge, stated that they are excited to be a part of ImpactData's mission to build mini-cloud areas and digital learning centers on the precincts of HBCUs, providing diverse communities with improved access to the resources they require.
Terry Comer, Chief Executive Officer of ImpactData, expressed that 25+ years of converged network-building experience of the DigitalBridge team would significantly contribute to their new class of integrated digital learning infrastructure that serves more interconnected communities and campuses.
ImpactData is also looking to test its cloud center strategy in attractive markets such as Birmingham, Nashville, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and Charlotte.
The cloud center model is expected to provide participating HBCU universities with recurring revenue streams, research-level connections, on-campus innovation and entrepreneurship labs, commercial collaborations, and community-based workforce training programming.
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