I recently returned from an electric Metro Connect in Fort Lauderdale, which marked its 25th anniversary this year. It’s an event that has become a fixture in digital infrastructure, and this year felt like a real milestone, both for the conference and for the industry itself. We had a packed schedule, with 30+ meetings across investors and operators. I attended with our CEO, Rod McDermott, and Veronica Maceira, my colleague and a Managing Director for our Interim Leadership practice, and it was great to spend time with both clients and candidates throughout the week.
Several long-time attendees told me the first Metro Connect had roughly 100 people. Today, it’s grown into a gathering of several thousand participants across investors, operators, and advisors. It’s even outgrown its home at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort and will be changing venues in 2027. That growth closely mirrors how much this space has evolved. Since the mid-2000s, digital infrastructure has expanded well beyond its original scope, from telecom and early data centers into a broad ecosystem that now includes hyperscale, AI infrastructure, fiber, edge, and towers, backed by a much deeper and more institutional investor base. Metro Connect has grown alongside that shift, and now sits at the center of it.
Like always, the value isn’t just in the meetings themselves, but everything around them, reconnecting with people I’ve known for 10 to 20 years, meeting new operators and investors entering the space, and conversations that start in passing and turn into something more. After 20 years in the industry, that mix of familiar faces and new relationships is still the highlight.
Important Themes to Consider
A few consistent themes emerged across conversations this year:
- Continued platform build-out: Private equity remains active in building and scaling infrastructure platforms, and increasingly moving beyond passive capital into active operational roles, partnering closely with management teams to accelerate growth.
- Strong capital availability: There is still significant dry powder looking for the right opportunities. The appetite is significant, according to a 2025 announcement, Blackstone alone committed $70 billion toward AI and digital infrastructure investment in early 2025.
- Longer hold periods: Exit timelines are stretching across many investments as firms focus on platform maturation over near-term returns.
- Talent needs evolving: AI expertise, leadership depth, and succession planning are coming up more frequently in hiring discussions, reflecting how quickly the demands on leadership teams are shifting.
Power + Real Estate: The Session That Stuck
The session I caught in between meetings focused on two familiar but increasingly urgent constraints: power and real estate.
With demand continuing to accelerate, particularly driven by AI, these challenges are becoming more central to how and where the industry grows.
What Comes Next
Looking back at how far this conference has come and how much the industry has transformed alongside it, the growth speaks for itself. It is a direct reflection of just how important digital infrastructure has become, and how much further it will go as AI continues to reshape the landscape.
The industry feels like it’s entering a new phase, one defined not just by growth, but by how platforms are built, scaled, and led. After two decades in this space, it’s been remarkable to watch. And what comes next for digital infrastructure may be the most interesting chapter yet.
Noelle Swan
Managing Director
nswan@mbexec.com
203.974.3811
Noelle serves as a Managing Director at McDermott + Bull and is part of the firm’s Technology Practice, based in New York, NY. She has over 20 years of experience in the talent acquisition industry, finding the right candidates to support her client’s needs for skill, experience, and culture fit. Her expertise spans across the broad spectrum of technology, with specific emphasis on information, communication and technology (ICT), networking, and cybersecurity.