Data Centers in Rochester

Rochester – Reliable Infrastructure and Low-Risk Colocation

Executive Summary

Rochester is a strategic choice for organizations needing disaster recovery or secondary sites that avoid the high costs of Manhattan while maintaining stable connectivity. It offers a balance of low natural disaster risk and competitive power rates, ensuring operational resilience for critical IT loads. This market serves as a cost-effective alternative for high-stakes data storage and regional distribution.

Rochester: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Rochester acts as a reliable junction for traffic between major East Coast hubs and Midwestern markets, providing diverse routing options for regional enterprises.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 3. As of September 2025, the market supports approximately 5–10 local and national fiber providers. This ensures a competitive environment for transit and transport services.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 0, enabling access to 0 cloud regions as of September 2025. While local on-ramps are not present, low-latency access to AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), and Microsoft Azure is available via private network interfaces or wavelength services to the primary hub in New York City.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): Most peering occurs privately or via remote connections to national hubs in New York City or Ashburn. This structure keeps local infrastructure requirements lean while maintaining access to global traffic.

Bare Metal: Infrastructure providers like ColoCrossing offer reliable server options within the local market. These services allow for rapid deployment of compute resources without the capital expense of physical hardware.

Power Analysis

The energy landscape in Rochester is defined by its stability and pricing advantages over neighboring metropolitan areas.

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity is approximately $0.07–$0.09/kWh, as of September 2025. The generation mix includes roughly 26% renewables and 22% nuclear power, providing a cleaner energy profile for sustainability goals. These rates allow for significant operational savings compared to downstate New York.

Power Grid Reliability: The local grid is well-engineered with multi-substation support to ensure consistent delivery. Regional infrastructure is purpose-built for high reliability, meeting the uptime requirements for modern colocation facilities.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Rochester offers a favorable environment for technology-heavy businesses focusing on the Great Lakes and Northeast regions.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are located near major healthcare, higher education, and research institutions. This proximity provides low-latency connectivity for organizations in these data-intensive industries.

Regional Market Reach: The location effectively serves a large population across Upstate New York and into Southern Ontario. It is a middle ground for data distribution between New York City, Toronto, and Chicago.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: New York provides a specific sales tax exemption for tangible personal property used in internet data centers. This incentive reduces the cost of hardware refresh cycles and initial infrastructure builds.

Natural Disaster Risk

The natural hazard profile for this region is very low, making it a safe harbor for primary and backup infrastructure.

Executive Risk Summary: Rochester holds a FEMA NRI Score of 23.03, classified as Low as of September 2025. The environment is stable, with very few catastrophic events recorded historically.

Primary Hazards:

• Ice Storms: A seasonal consideration handled through facility winterization.
• Heat Waves: Occasional events managed by standard cooling redundancy.
• Lightning: Protected via standard grounding systems.
• Hail: Minimal impact on hardened data center structures.
• Hurricanes and Flooding: These are considered minor or indirect risks with minimal material impact on local facilities.