Akamai Leasing Another 16,000 Square Feet from CoreSite

By David Gross

While the Netflix-Akamai/Level 3 story is getting more air time now than "Panama" did in 1984, other events are still happening in the data center industry regarding CDNs, including news that Akamai has leased another 16,061 square feet from CoreSite, according to the data center provider's most recent SEC filing.  

In its quarterly newsletter, CoreSite mentioned that Akamai was now peering at 40 Gbps on the provider's Any2 IP exchange, a hint that more space could have been on the way. With the additional capacity, Akamai will be leasing over 29,000 square feet from CoreSite, making the CDN supplier CoreSite's 4th largest customer by annualized rent.   Facebook is still #1, and the I.R.S. is #2, with the tax collectors taking over 120,000 square feet of office space at the 55 South Market building in San Jose, where the successor to the MAE West exchange is located.

Either way, Akamai's growing presence is a major win for CoreSite against Equinix, which as I mentioned in the CoreSite earnings preview is struggling in LA against CoreSite's One Wilshire leasehold and 256,000 square foot 900 North Alameda building, which along with its New York City property, are making it a leading choice for media companies, including NBC Universal.    

Even though Akamai's annualized rent will now top $3 million at CoreSite, it will still trail the I.R.S in how much revenue it produces for the REIT.  And no matter how much rent the tax collectors pay to CoreSite, it's nowhere near as exciting as talking about Netflix and Level 3 as frequently as Z-100 played "Panama" in 1984.