Site: Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4

Company: Equinix
Site is located within: 350 E Cermak - Digital Realty building
Metro: Chicago: Downtown
Metro: Chicago
State: Illinois
Region: Midwest US
Country: United States
Region: North America
Region: Americas
Region: World
Address:
350 East Cermak Road

Gross SqFt: 296,927
Usable SqFt: 129,013
Total Power: ??? NN
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Megawatts
Ownership: Equinix does not own the building.

The Equinix CH1, CH2, and CH4 data centers are located at 350 East Cermak Rd in Chicago, which is one of the biggest carrier hotels in the world. The building is an unusual confluence of two Interconnection ecosystems, Internet Exchange and Financial Exchange. The two ecosystems create significant demand for space in the building and therefore available colocation space is limited and pricing is higher.

Equinix distinctly separates CH1, CH2, and CH4 into separate data centers, but in reality, the sites are in the same building. Overtime when Equinix ran out of capacity the company expanded to a new floor and gave the site a new name (ie, CH1, CH2, etc.) The chart below breaks down the sites and their locations.

Site Location Gross SqFt Usable SqFt Power MW
CH1 5th Floor 166,084 50,992 3.3
CH2 6th Floor 110,618 58,852 2.5
CH4 8th Floor 20,225 19,169 2.4
Total 296,927 129,013 8.2

The Building:

Digital Realty Trust owns the building at 350 Cermak and is Equinix's Landlord. Digital Reality also operates the building Meet Me Room (MMR) on the 2nd floor. The MMR is a legacy Telx facility.

Cross Connects & Reaching Non-Equinix Suites in the Building:


Equinix controls and manages conduit to deliver cross-connects between each of their suites in the building. From a cross-connect perspective, Equinix treats CH1, CH2, and CH4 as one large data center. If a carrier is on a different Equinix floor, they are reachable via a standard cross-connect and there are no additional charges to connect within Equinix's site(s) at 350 E Cermak beyond the standard XC fee.

However, it is expensive to connect to networks outside of Equinix space. An Intra-Building Cross Connect (IBCC) is a fiber pair (effectively a cross-connect) that runs from an Equinix suite (A-side) to the building's meet-me room (formerly Telx) on the 2nd floor. The total cost of the pair can be over $1,000 MRC. (IBCCs are at least $750 MRC and there can be Z-end charges as well.)

Other Equinix Sites in Chicago

Equinix maintains two other locations in Chicago. CH3 is a large data center in Elk Grove and CH7 is a smaller data center in Westmont that was a legacy Verizon facility.

Connections to CH3 in Elk Grove

Equinix connects it's other Chicago data centers together via it's Metro Connect service. Metro Connect is effectively a 'carrier-grade' transport network between the company's Chicago facilities.

Telco Info:


Equinix connects their Cermak site to Equinix CH3 via IBX Link, which is a lit transport service.

NPA/NXX 312-255
CLLI Code CHCGILCA
LEC AT&T (Ameritech)
LATA 358

Map and Nearby Locations:

350 East Cermak Road (5th, 6th, and 8th Floors)

SITES within 15 miles of Equinix Chicago CH1, CH2, & CH4

Show SqM



Distance Site name SqFt
0.00 miles Colocation America CH1
0.00 miles Atlantic Metro ORD0 20,000
0.00 miles Steadfast Chicago 350 E Cermak 16,000
0.00 miles Cyxtera Chicago CH2 142,346
0.00 miles 350 E Cermak - Digital Realty
0.00 miles Cyxtera Chicago CH4 41,073
0.02 miles ServerCentral Chicago DRT-CH1
1.30 miles CoreSite Chicago CH2 56,000
1.50 miles 725 S Wells - 1547 Critical Systems 42,000
1.50 miles Steadfast Chicago 725 Wells 30,000
This stacking plan shows the layout of CH1, CH2, and CH4 in the building. The Telx (now Digital Realty) Meet-Me-Room on the 2nd floor. Financial Exchanges such as BATS, CME, and ICE are also noted.

Outside of 350 E Cermak
This stacking plan shows the layout of CH1, CH2, and CH4 in the building. The Telx (now Digital Realty) Meet-Me-Room on the 2nd floor. Financial Exchanges such as BATS, CME, and ICE are also noted.
Stack Plan for Equinix Facilities in 350 E Cermak

This stacking plan shows the layout of CH1, CH2, and CH4 in the building. The Telx (now Digital Realty) Meet-Me-Room on the 2nd floor. Financial Exchanges such as BATS, CME, and ICE are also noted.

Source: Equinix
Rooftop view at 350 E Cermak

November 2017

EQIX CH4 Data Sheet

November 2017

EQIX CH1 Data Sheet

August 2019

CH2 Data Sheet (PDF)

August 2019

EQIX Chicago Metro overview

October 2012

EQIX Financial Hub in Chicago (2012)