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Level 3 Will Sell Stock, Debt to Raise More Cash
Fiber optic network operator Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) will sell 125 million shares of stock and $150 million of convertible debt to the public, the company said today. After the announcement, Level 3 shares were trading at 4.89 a share, placing the estimated value of the stock sale at around $611 million dollars. That would provide plenty of funding to continue the company's recent buying spree, which has seen it acquire ICG Communications, Telcove and WilTel.
May 30, 2006
Internet 2 Will Get Even Faster
Internet 2, the high-speed network used primarily by academics and researchers, will get even faster, acording to reports at GigaOm and NewsFactor:
Plans are afoot to use 80 channels to pump 10 gigabits per second per channel, and upgrade the total backbone bandwidth to a whopping 800 Gbps.Now that's some serious pipe. For more background, see the Internet 2 web site.
Posted by Rich Miller 
May 30, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 29, 2006
Pew: Gains in Broadband Use, VoIP Awareness
Adoption of high-speed Internet at home grew twice as fast in the year prior to March 2006 than in the same time frame from 2004 to 2005, according to a report of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
At the end of March 2006, 42 percent of Americans had high-speed at home, up from 30 percent in March 2005, or a 40 percent increase. Broadband adoption is viewed by many as a leading indicator of data center demand, as it provides a larger user base for digital delivery of phone calls, videos, games and music. There are lots of additional interesting tidbits here:
- Awareness and Use of VoIP is Growing Fast: As of the end of 2005, 61 million Americans say they have heard of the service - up by 86 percent since February 2004 - and approximately 3 percent of Internet users have VoIP service at home. Of those with VoIP at home, about half have given up their traditional landline phone. Among respondents who identify themselves as "early adopters" of technology, one in ten (10%) haveVoIP telephone service at home
Posted by Rich Miller May 29, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 26, 2006
Opsware Approaches $100M in Annual Revenue
Opsware posted a quarerly loss of $5.8 million this week, but its revenue was sharply higher, and Wal Street likes it. ThinkEquity analyst Ranjini Chandirakanthan lifted 2007 revenue estimates to $100.8 million from $94.1 million, and predicted that Opsware will "be one of the fastest-growing companies in our space," according to the AP. Then there's this from The Motley Fool, reflecting on the fortunes of Opsware co-founder, browser pioneer Marc Andreessen:
The business seems to be picking up momentum, raising its annual revenue estimate from $92 million to $100 million. With gross margins of roughly 75%, it appears to be hitting the point where it can scale effectively and let incremental revenue drop to the bottom line. Andreessen has stuck through it all. Seven years of unrelenting losses and $490 million of accumulated losses later, the clouds obscuring his company's path to profitability are beginning to part.In its previous life as Loudcloud, the company was famously the last major IPO of the dot-com boom. It looks like Andreessen and his Opsware cohorts are positioned to benefit from their patience and perseverence. Still, it may take a while to make back that $490 million back.
Posted by Rich Miller May 26, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 23, 2006
Digital Realty Raises $95M in Stock Offering
Digital Realty Trust, the leading owner of corporate data centers and Internet gateways, has sold an additional 4 million shares of common stock, raising approximately $95 million, the company said today. It has granted the underwriter, Citigroup Corporate and Investment Banking, a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares to cover over-allotments.
Digital Realty will use the money to pay off some of its unsecured credit facility. "The Company is actively pursuing multiple opportunities for potential acquisitions, with due diligence and negotiations at different stages of advancement," DLR said in a statement. "The Company intends to reborrow amounts under its revolving credit facility from time to time to fund acquisitions and for general corporate purposes."
Shares of Digital Realty added 3 cents to close at $24.40 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Posted by Rich Miller May 23, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
Data Center Testbed Opens at Carnegie-Mellon
Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created the Data Center Observatory (DCO), a research vehicle for the study of data center automation and efficiency. The project is a collaborative effort between Carnegie Mellon and industry and government partners, including APC, whose equipment is being used in the center.
Energy efficiency is one of the center's major thrusts, as high-density computing represents the industry's primary operational challenge. "These large clusters of power-hungry machines, along with rising energy prices, are generating huge energy bills, forcing data center owners nationwide to seek more energy-efficient solutions," said Greg Ganger, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Parallel Data Lab (PDL), a Carnegie Mellon organization specializing in the study of storage systems. To tackle these issues, university researchers are working with APC to develop new ways to reduce energy demands in data centers.
Posted by Rich Miller May 23, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
Microsoft: 600 Terabytes of Downloads During E3
What will bandwidth usage look like in the Internet economy of the near future? Microsoft got a taste during the recent E3 video game conference. More than seven million game demos, trailers, videos and other content were downloaded from Xbox Live during the week of E3, with the Halo 3 trailer notching more than two million downloads.
"The sheer volume of downloads during E3 was simply staggering," said Xbox's Peter Moore, who told the BBC that the traffic consumed more than 600 terabytes of data.
Posted by Rich Miller May 23, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 22, 2006
Globix UK Announces High-Density Facility
Globix UK said today that it is investing 2 million pounds ($3.7 million) in a high-density hosting facility at its data center in London. Space will be available this summer in the 4,000 square-foot facility, which will house 20 kilowatt high-density hosting racks filled with blade servers. According to Globix, no other data center in London has the power and cooling capabilities to support such an advanced blade server environment.
London realtors say the city is reaching its capacity for hosting centers, both in terms of space within existing data centers and land on which to build new facilities. It is estimated there will be 0% availability by 2009, according to Andrew Jay at CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate advisors.
Posted by Rich Miller May 22, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
Liquid-Cooled Data Center Announced
GN Data Center, Inc. has announced that it will develop the first entirely liquid-cooled Internet data center, which it expects to open for business in late 2006 to early 2007. The company, apparently a start-up, said the 40,000 square foot facility will be between Chicago and Milwaukee, with the exact location "kept confidential."
"By quadrupling equipment density (in excess 20 kW per cabinet), substantial savings are possible over data centers using conventional air-conditioning," the company's release states. "A perfect match for high-density blade server technology, the liquid-cooled data center allows more hardware in a smaller space." The release also refers to battery-free continuous power (flywheels).
GN data center describes itself as a privately owned company that provides infrastructure for critical IT assets. The company's web site contains minimal information, and the only party identified with the company thus far is George Demet, vice president of sales, who also registered the company's domain name to an address in Lake Forest, Ill. The gndatacenter.com web site is presently hosted at NetAccess, a dedicated hosting provider in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Posted by Rich Miller May 22, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
HP's Data Center Mega-Consolidation
Hewlett-Packard has unveiled one of the most ambitious data center consolidation projects yet, which will consolidate 85 data centers worldwide into six larger centers located in three U.S. cities.
HP's announcement is great news for Atlanta, Houston and Austin, which will each be home to two new huge data centers. The facilities are being designed as "lights out" data centers, capable of being managed remotely by HP's adaptive infrastructure solutions. The company is also implementing smart cooling technologies that optimize airflow for cooling of the data centers, leading to utility cost savings of up to 25 percent.
HP will invest $600 million in two 200,000-square-foot data centers in metro Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Business Journal. A new data center in Suwanee, Ga., will create 140 new jobs over the next five years. A second data center will be built in Alpharetta, Ga., at the site of an HP campus. That data center also will employ 140.
The Austin data centers will measure about 400,000 square feet and will include 50,000 square feet of raised floor space. One center will be located at Ed Bluestein Blvd. and the other will be located at its existing campus in Wells Branch, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Posted by Rich Miller May 22, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
May 17, 2006
ColoServe Moves Accountants Out, Equipment In
ColoServe, the colocation unit of San Francisco dedicated server specialist ServePath, got some press earlier this week when it announced that it had added 3,000 square feet to its data center. The more interesting story is how they did it - by relocating their sales, marketing and accounting departments to free up space contiguous to the data center. ColoServe employees are documenting the conversion on the Colocation Blog, with pictures of the new space and the Liebert CRAC units moving into place.
The additional 3,000 square feet of space will allow customers to expand as their businesses grow and will enable ColoServe to meet increasing demand for San Francisco data center space. "Having a top-notch colocation facility with great bandwidth and available space in downtown San Francisco means we can offer our current customers more flexibility while ensuring prospective customers we can meet their needs," said John Keagy, president, ColoServe. "As their businesses grow, so can their data center space."
Posted by Rich Miller May 17, 2006 | Permalink | Newsletter
MORE STORIES FROM THIS MONTH:
- Level 3 Will Sell Stock, Debt to Raise More Cash
- Internet 2 Will Get Even Faster
- Pew: Gains in Broadband Use, VoIP Awareness
- Opsware Approaches $100M in Annual Revenue
- Digital Realty Raises $95M in Stock Offering
- Data Center Testbed Opens at Carnegie-Mellon
- Microsoft: 600 Terabytes of Downloads During E3
- Globix UK Announces High-Density Facility
- Liquid-Cooled Data Center Announced
- HP's Data Center Mega-Consolidation
- ColoServe Moves Accountants Out, Equipment In
- MySpace Expands Data Center Infrastructure
- Sterling Network Expands Phoenix Data Center
- Wachovia to Open $400 Million Data Center
- Qwest Buys OnFiber for $107M