NaviSite, Inc. (NAVI) said today that it has struck a 10-year, $10 million colocation deal with "a leading online European gaming operator," which will occupy space in a new facility Navisite is leasing in Woking, England outside London. NaviSite has the right to lease up to 70,000-square-foot of usable data center space in a facility operated by Sentrum Limited. Navisite chairman Andrew Ruhan is also the CEO of Sentrum, which recently acquired a facility with 200,000 square feet of data center space and 60,000 square feet of office space.
"We are thrilled that this customer has chosen NaviSite and will become the first to utilize our newest European data center," said Sean McAvan, Managing Director, NaviSite, U.K. "A major figure in European online gaming, this customer will use NaviSite's new data center to house its network systems, web traffic and infrastructure services."
"The demand for premium data center and scalable network capacity in the European market continues to outdistance the available supply," said Arthur Becker, Chief Executive Officer of NaviSite. "A significant catalyst in our expansion plan is the strong demand NaviSite has experienced in the U.K. market from both new and existing customers. This is the second large transaction that we have won in the U.K. in the last three quarters. The pipeline in the U.K. and the U.S. continues to be robust, and we anticipate additional transactions for this data center in the coming quarters."
Becker discusses the new London data center in the company's conference call with securities analysts, who inquired about the capital expenditure of additional data center space. "We happen to have a pretty good relationship over there with my partner and the chairman, who has built a few hundred thousand feet of data center space," said Becker. "You can rest assured that we won't be leasing any space unless we've sold it. We have an option to do it and we will be timing the leasing of the space when we're able to sell the space, so we won't be spending out ahead of ourselves. We have the option to lease up to 70,000 feet, and we clearly won't be taking that space down until we have the customers."
The Sentrium data center in Woking can support high density power and cooling of up to 2000 watts per square meter, supported by UPS and generator backup. Navisite has a lease/option agreement with Sentrum for the data center space.
