VNET (21Vianet) Beijing Mega Data Center

When 21Vianet (now VNET Group) broke ground on this Daxing District site in February 2013, it was billed as one of China's largest data centre projects, and it carried unusual strategic weight: the facility was built to power Microsoft's premier commercial cloud services in China, including Windows Azure and Office 365, under the operator-licensed model that foreign clouds must use in the country. The roughly 42,000 sqm building was developed in phases, with the first phase operational by the end of 2013, and houses about 5,000 cabinets at full capacity — wholly owned and operated by VNET rather than leased. Beijing's Daxing district places the campus inside the capital's core demand zone, close to the enterprises, government bodies and internet companies that dominate North China's colocation market. VNET remains one of China's largest carrier-neutral data centre operators, and this site illustrates its dual model of retail colocation plus wholesale build-outs for anchor tenants. It suits multinationals that need compliant mainland-China infrastructure with local operation, as well as domestic enterprises consolidating IT into Beijing.