Roundup: Internap, Cisco, Unisys, APC

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s data center industry news headlines:

• Internap reports 2nd quarter 2009 results. Internap Network Services Corporation (INAP) announced revenue of $64.4 million and adjusted EBITDA of $6.8 million for the second quarter of 2009. The also announced a commitment of $50 million over the next 18 months in incremental capital investment to grow its data center presence in key markets. "Over the past several months we've developed our strategy, begun strengthening our management team, reduced operating costs and begun driving operational excellence," said Eric Cooney, President and CEO. The data center segment provided both the year-over-year and sequential increases in total revenue. Total number of customers decreased from the first quarter of 2009, down 56 at 3,118 for the second quarter.
• Cisco reports 4th quarter and fiscal year 2009 earnings: Although revenue fell 18% in the 4th quarter for global power house Cisco Systems (CSCO) , CEO John Chambers "believes there is a good chance we will look back and see that the tipping point occurred in our business in Q4". Fourth quarter net sales were $8.5 billion and net income $1.1 billion GAAP. Fiscal year 2009 saw net sales of $36.1 billion, net income of $6.1 billion GAAP, and Earnings per share of $1.05 GAAP. Cash and cash equivalents and investments were $35 billion at the end of fiscal 2009, compared with $26.2 billion at the end of 2008. During the 4th quarter Cisco spent $800 million repurchasing 42 million shares of common stock at an average of $19.02 per share.

• The incredible shrinking data center. ComputerWorld reports on the shrinking foot print of company data centers. Server consolidation and virtualization have provided cost and floor savings. Many IT managers are carefully weighing the size and efficiencies when building new data centers as well. Less equipment equals less infrastucture to support it, but the data center power and cooling systems still make up the bulk of costs.
• Unisys debuts secure cloud solution. Yesterday Unisys announced that their Secure Cloud Solution recently became available to clients. The secure cloud solution is based on ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) and enables the offering of a managed public cloud service. Unisys worked with Intel, EMC, Scalent Systems and Enigmatec Corporation to architect the solution.
• Boosting data center voltage increases efficiency.  APC by Schneider's Victor Avelar, via Hearts Electronic Products magazine describes using a 240/415 volt distribution system instead of 120/208 volt and how this can save cost and floor space. Victor explains that "this proposed distribution is more efficient, costs less to operate, and eliminates the need for transformers in the data center". The article describes a case study from an actual APC customer data center where a 91% electricity savings was seen, including cooling. For other approaches to alternate voltage, see our recent coverage of Emerson Network Power (240V) and Eaton (400V/230V).