Month: June 2025

Businesses today are dealing with massive growth in data generated by mobile usage, IoT devices, AI, and cloud-based applications, creating immense pressure on traditional data centres. The scale of global connectivity is accelerating quickly. In fact, Ericsson reported there were approximately 14.6 billion IoT connections globally. By the end of 2024, that number was expected to reach 18.8 billion. 

With billions of devices, growing AI adoption, and increasing real-time processing demands, relying solely on legacy systems is becoming challenging for businesses. This shift demands more than scale – it requires infrastructure that delivers proximity, agility, and performance. To harness the benefits of 5G, organizations must reconsider and upgrade their hosting strategies—prioritizing edge computing, strategic infrastructure location, reliability, and bandwidth capacity. One of the most immediate pressures driving this shift is the explosive growth of mobile usage and IoT. Telehouse Canada is supporting clients in adapting to the evolving digital landscape with facilities built to meet the demands of a 5G-powered future.

The Explosive Growth of Mobile and IoT Driving Data Centre Evolution

One of the most immediate pressures driving this shift is the explosive growth of mobile usage and IoT. Mobile users and IoT devices generate unprecedented amounts of data requiring scalable, high-density data centre infrastructure. It’s no longer about whether IT infrastructure can support the mobile and IoT ecosystem – but whether it can scale fast enough without becoming a bottleneck. Users increasingly rely on mobile connectivity for streaming high-definition video, online gaming, and interactive applications, driving the demand for edge-ready data centres. For data centres, this means prioritizing flexibility, network capacity, and geographic reach.

5G’s Demand for Edge Computing

With 5G networks, milliseconds matter. The closer your infrastructure is to your users, the faster and more reliable your services become. Gartner highlights that by 2025, 75 per cent of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed at the edge, up from just 10 per cent in 2018. Meanwhile, according to McKinsey’s Technology Trends Outlook 2024, the use of cloud and edge computing has grown substantially due to additional AI demand, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 30.9 per cent.  

Edge computing minimizes latency by processing data closer to the originating device, essential for autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and IoT. Telehouse Canada’s strategic downtown Toronto locations offer edge-ready proximity to Canada’s largest peering exchange, providing an ideal foundation for 5G-powered workloads. Additionally, Telehouse Canada is home to all the major Canadian 5G network operators, offering clients direct access to leading carriers through onsite colocation and high-speed interconnection. This strategic proximity to Canada’s network infrastructure enhances speed, reliability, and routing efficiency – making it an ideal hub for 5G-poowered deployments.

Ensuring Reliability and Redundancy in the 5G Era

With users expecting uninterrupted connectivity, outage is no longer tolerable, it damages customer trust and business continuity. According to Uptime Institute’s Global Data Centre Survey, the average cost of downtime has risen sharply, emphasizing the critical need for enhanced redundancy measures. Telehouse Canada’s multi-layered redundancy and backup strategies ensure continuous availability, protecting clients from outages and keeping 5G applications online – with a 99.999% SLA to back it.

Managing Increased Bandwidth and Data Traffic 

5G removes previous bandwidth limitations – but without modern infrastructure, that growth becomes a liability. IDC forecasts a 30 per cent annual increase in global data traffic driven primarily by video streaming and interactive content through 2028. Data centres must modernize network infrastructure, incorporating 100G to 400G Ethernet technology, advanced fibre optics, and high-capacity interconnections. Telehouse Canada’s interconnectivity solutions, including a dark fibre network that provides rapid, direct access to connectivity providers, including carriers, ISPs and ASPs, are designed to accommodate higher bandwidth demands, preparing clients for a 5G-driven data surge. 

Advanced Automation and AI Integration 

Manual oversight can’t keep up with the volume, velocity, and complexity of modern digital environments. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 60 per cent of data centre operations will be fully automated using AI-driven technologies for predictive maintenance and resource optimization. AI-driven monitoring significantly reduces operational overhead, improves predictive accuracy, and enhances resource utilization, thus optimizing data centre performance. AI-driven automation isn’t just about cost savings – it’s about future-proofing uptime and performance. Telehouse Canada consistently explores emerging technologies, like AI-driven automation, to enhance operational performance and better meet evolving client needs. 

Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in a 5G World 

As data volumes grow, so does energy consumption – and stakeholders are demanding responsible operations. McKinsey reports that data centres could account for approximately 14 per cent of global carbon emissions by 2040 unless aggressive sustainability measures are taken. Data centres incorporating renewable energy sources, liquid cooling technologies, and AI-powered energy management systems can significantly offset environmental impacts. Telehouse Canada’s implementation of innovative cooling methods, such as Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling, substantially reduces energy usage by up to 80 per cent. 

5G is transforming more than mobile networks – it’s redrawing the boundaries of infrastructure strategy. Businesses that want to stay ahead must shift from centralized, legacy architectures to decentralized, automated, and sustainable systems.  

Telehouse Canada is at the forefront of that shift – offering sustainable, edge-ready locations, tiered reliability, intelligent systems, and direct interconnection to all major 5G network operators in the country. The question is no longer if your businesses will need to adapt – but how quickly. Telehouse Canada can help your business stay competitive with infrastructure built for 5G and beyond. Contact us today.    

Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly evolved from an emerging concept to a core part of Canada’s business infrastructure. As adoption accelerates, organizations are making more focused investments in AI to solve real business challenges and enhance decision-making. As a result, the infrastructure supporting AI is under increasing demands and pressure.

Our recently commissioned ‘AI Workload Strategies 2025’ research, conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research shines a light on the scale of the challenge:

• 55% of global businesses report significant networking issues impacting AI adoption
• 39% have had to abandon AI initiatives altogether due to connectivity constraints

For Canadian data centres to help organizations avoid further setbacks and fully capitalize on the potential of AI, they must stay ahead of demand. That means advancing interconnection, increasing density, and addressing power, cooling, and wider industry coordination.

Connectivity is becoming a dealbreaker

AI applications depend on high-speed, low-latency connections to move data seamlessly between clouds, GPU clusters, and on-premises environments. As workloads increase in size and complexity, older static network models are struggling to keep up.

Our survey points to a clear trend. 97% of companies say direct access to cloud platforms, commonly known as cloud on-ramp, is now critical or important to their AI strategies.

Yet reliably delivering this kind of interconnection at scale remains a major hurdle. Training large models requires fast and consistent data flow across environments, and many data centres have not originally been built with AI in mind.

Canadian cities like Toronto are witnessing a surge in fibre network expansion and the rise of carrier-neutral data centres. These interconnected hubs are designed to support the low-latency, high-resilience infrastructure that AI workloads demand, setting the benchmark for future-ready facilities.

In downtown Toronto, Telehouse Canada’s three carrier-neutral facilities are equipped with AI-supportive infrastructure to meet the scale, speed, and interconnection demands of AI deployments and enable AI at the edge.

Supporting higher density infrastructure – and the power to match

AI workloads are pushing data centres far beyond traditional capacity limits, demanding updates across multiple areas:

• Higher rack densities: Traditional Canadian data centres typically operated under 10kW per rack, but AI deployments now often exceed that, especially when GPUs are involved. Telehouse Canada’s infrastructure is engineered for flexibility, adapting to different workload and density requirements.

• Advanced cooling: Our 151 and 250 Front Street West data centres utilise Enwave’s Deep Lake Water Cooling System, an innovative cooling system that reduces power consumption and sustainably manages thermal output. Telehouse Canada customizes cooling solutions to meet the specific needs of different AI workloads, ensuring optimal performance and energy efficiency.

• Power capacity planning: As energy demand is rising fast, securing additional power from utilities, especially in urban cities like Toronto, can take time. This highlights the need for long-term planning rather than reactive upgrades.

• Flexible facility design: Not all AI workloads are the same. There is growing recognition that training and inferencing require different setups, prompting data centres to adopt mixed-density designs that can support both effectively.

These changes are now foundational for data centres aiming to support the next generation of AI applications.

Getting AI-ready means working together

AI is rapidly reshaping infrastructure demands, creating pressure across the ecosystem. Meeting these demands will take closer collaboration between data centre operators, utility providers, AI specialists, and regulators. Traditionally competitive and often fragmented, the Canadian data centre industry is now recognising the benefits of coordinated action to tackle shared infrastructure challenges.

Key focus areas for collaboration include:

• Setting common standards for interoperability and security: Aligning on security protocols and interoperability requirements helps streamline data movement across facilities and platforms – essential when AI workloads are distributed across hybrid environments.

• Harmonizing cooling and power requirements: As advanced cooling methods like direct-to-chip liquid cooling become more common, shared approaches and technical standards can ease the deployment and ensure reliable performance at higher densities.

• Accelerating access to critical infrastructure: Joint and Coordinated efforts with utility providers and telecoms can speed up access to essential resources like fibre and power, particularly in urban areas where demand is already high and provisioning timelines are long.

• Ensuring sustainable growth across regions: Collaboration enables infrastructure expansion with balance among performance, cost and sustainability, especially as AI workloads begin to spread beyond traditional business hubs.

Getting ahead of the curve

There is no doubt that AI is reshaping how Canada’s data centre facilities are built, connected, and operated. To stay ahead, providers need to focus on three areas: advanced connectivity, next-generation power and cooling, and stronger industry collaboration. Getting this right will position them to lead, not just keep pace, as AI continues to evolve. The groundwork laid today will define the country’s ability to compete and innovate in the years ahead.

Support your AI investments with Telehouse Canada

At Telehouse Canada, we understand what is at stake as businesses scale their AI capabilities. Our data centre solutions and infrastructure tailored to handle the high-density, high-performance demands of AI workloads and support AI deployment at the Edge– without compromising on security or compliance.

From robust interconnection options to scalable colocation environments, we empower companies expand their AI infrastructure with confidence. Whether you are training large models or deploying real-time inference, our facilities are designed to keep pace with your evolving needs.

Ready to scale your AI infrastructure? Learn more about how Telehouse Canada can support your strategy here.