With the proliferation of software startups, the idea of sharing work space really took hold in the IT community as an easy way to both learn from each other and reduce the cost of rent. But now, companies of all sizes and stages are realizing the benefits of housing many minds under one roof. Markley Group has always embraced this idea – as a colocation provider, it is unspoken that many of the people in our building day-in and day-out are from different companies, all trying to perfect the data storage and networking for their own company, while capitalizing on the top-of-the-line equipment and services that Markley Group offers.
In Boston, coworking space has become quite popular. Earlier this year, Callum Borchers of the Boston Globe wrote a piece that detailed the many different options for companies looking to set up camp in a coworking space: from temporary to multi-year commitments; those that “charge a simple rental fee, take an equity stake in tenant companies, or even offer seed money;” upscale spaces that offer a receptionist; even grittier workspaces that provide manufacturing equipment for hardware production.
The soft benefits, beyond rent cost-savings, are vast. Collaboration and the sharing of ideas, experiences, lessons learned and best practices helps to ensure that those under the same roof are not making the same mistakes twice. Entrepreneurs and young professionals are going into various business scenarios with the guidance and help of industry peers. The opportunities for networking and business development are a natural byproduct of the arrangement.
We like to think of One Summer Street as its own special brand of coworking space. Our tenants are from various companies, but they all have second desks right here at Markley. Sure, they are here for the state of the art equipment and for what is going on in their cage, but in the process, they have the opportunity to realize more benefits than just your average colocation situation. We had a conversation with one of our esteemed clients, Mike Yarosh, Director of IT Services at W.B. Mason, about the benefits he sees in having a second desk at Markley Group.
Markley: How long has W.B. Mason been at One Summer Street?
Yarosh: Six years. W.B. Mason has an onsite data center but we realized that we could not keep up with the data and networking demands on our own. We looked at 60-70 colocation options – from Virginia to Chicago, big and small, corporate and private. For us, Markley was the best facility for the best value. Our second site will never be enough so we hope to officially move 100% of our data center operations and backup into Markley soon. We realized a ROI almost immediately after moving into One Summer Street.
Markley: How often are you at One Summer Street?
Yarosh: When we are working on a project, we are there daily. It’s great to have access to the facility and staff whenever we want, and more importantly, whenever we need. Having Markley staff on site is extremely helpful to us.
Markley: What are some of the benefits you see in coworking at Markley, with the staff and other tenants? Yarosh: We interact a lot with Markley employees, and that holds so much value in itself. However, we just recently had a question about racking and asked a Markley staff member. He pointed us to another Markley tenant who had a similar system and they let us into their cage, gave us some pointers and recommendations – it was incredibly helpful – not to let anyone necessarily tell us what to do, but to give us access, let us observe and come to our own conclusions. For instance, in our correspondences with other Markley tenants, we realized that a big name company was using one networking core vendor over another, and the fact that it was appropriate for their use case validated it for W.B. Mason. Their institution was large and successful enough for me to feel like it was a trusted solution. These are the type of untold benefits of Markley Group that we value.
Do you have any similar stories of coworking benefits at One Summer Street? Let us know! And, if you are interested in learning how you can get a cage and a second desk at Markley Group, contact us at info@markleygroup.com.
