Digital Realty has opened a new data center innovation lab at its Northern Virginia campus to give partners and customers a real-world testing environment for artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud workloads.
The Digital Realty Innovation Lab, or DRIL, lets companies bring their own workloads or use pre-configured infrastructure to validate deployments before scaling. Located inside a live colocation facility, the lab allows existing customers to configure and optimize workloads without disrupting production.
New customers can work with Digital Realty and partners to build representative architectures for low-risk testing. Through its ServiceFabric platform, the lab also provides direct connections to cloud and network providers.
“Innovation isn’t optional – it’s a competitive requirement in a world where data volumes and AI adoption are accelerating,” said Chris Sharp, chief technology officer at Digital Realty. “Yet, many enterprises still deploy complex infrastructure without the ability to test, validate, or optimize in real-world conditions. The DRIL changes that. It provides a live, high-density environment where customers gain real-time, data-driven insights to fine-tune their deployments before scaling. As hybrid IT, AI, and colocation strategies converge, the innovation lab is purpose-built to help enterprises stay agile, reduce risk, and move faster – from proof of concept to production.”
Key features of DRIL:
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High-density AI and HPC testing: Supports artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads up to 150kW per cabinet.
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AI infrastructure optimization: The ePlus AI Experience Center lets businesses test power, cooling and GPU requirements in an AI-optimized environment.
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Hybrid cloud validation: Direct cloud connectivity allows enterprises to refine hybrid strategies and onboard with ServiceFabric through cross connects.
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AI workload orchestration: Customers can run workloads across Digital Realty’s Private AI Exchange for seamless integration and performance.
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Latency testing across locations: Enterprises can test latency scenarios to ensure performance across multiple sites and cloud destinations.
Digital Realty’s Northern Virginia campus is the primary site for the innovation lab, but enterprises can also test latency between this location and remote sites to refine cloud connectivity through ServiceFabric. The company is expanding the program globally, with London set to go live in early 2026.