Blackberry Maker Plans Atlanta Data Center

Research in Motion (RIMM) is building a large data center in the Atlanta area to expand capacity for the e-mail network for its Blackberry mobile devices, according to local media. The company has acquired 40 acres of land in Alpharetta, and is building a 200,000 square foot data center at the site, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle (subscription).

The new facility continues an expansion of RIM’s data center infrastructure beyond its home base of Waterloo, Ontario. The Blackberry e-mail network suffered a network outage in February 2008 that left its 12 million North American users offline for hours, prompting criticism that the company was overly reliant on data centers in Waterloo that handled all its North American messaging traffic.

AtlantaNAP Gets $7.5M in Expansion Funding

Atlanta-based data center operator AtlantaNAP has raised $7.5 million in debt financing from RBC Bank, reports AtlanTech. The company will use the money to expand its operations, and replace a more expensive line of credit.

AtlantaNAP recently completed an expansion its Enterprise Data Center 2 by adding another 13,500 square feet of available space, the company said today. It previously opened a 12,500 square foot addition last summmer. The 75,000 square foot facility now includes 50,000 square feet of finished data center space. The company also recently expanded into the Dallas market, leasing space in the Telx facility at 8435 Stemmons for its DallasNAP dedicated server business.

AXA Plans $100M Atlanta Data Center

AXA Equitable will invest $100 million in two data centers in the Atlanta area, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle (print subscription needed), which uses the news as an opportunity to take a broader look at the metro Atlanta data center market.

AXA, a New York-based financial services company, is relocating work from six East Coast data centers to about 200,000 square feet of data center space in Suwanee and the downtown Atlanta area, CIO Kevin Murray said. The company will process business transactions and backup data at the Atlanta facilities, and. Expects the consolidation to save AXA about $50 million.

AtlantaNAP Expands Colocation Space

Atlanta colocation provider AtlantaNAP has completed an expansion with the opening of a 12,500 square foot addition to Enterprise Data Center 2 in May. The new space was designed for enterprise clients, with 36-inch raised floors, high-density power capability and hot air containment systems. AtlantaNAP has now completed 37,500 square feet of a total of 50,000 square feet available at the facility. About 4,500 square feet of the new space was pre-sold, with the remaining 8,000 square feet available for colocation customers.

“We believe this will bring in additional enterprise and corporate customers who are looking for Atlanta colocation with the best combination of facility, security and service for their money,” said Jeff Hinkle, President of AtlantaNAP.

Atlanta Data Centers Ride Out Tornado

Last night’s tornado in downtown Atlanta came within blocks of the city’s major Internet connectivity hub, but no major data center service outages have been reported. The tornado, which struck at 9:45 pm, caused damage at the Georgia Dome, CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park. Those facilites are about three blocks from 56 Marietta Street, the carrier hotel property owned by Telx/GI Partners. There are also data center operations at 55 Marietta Street. Photos from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution document the damage in the area, including parts of Marietta Street.

About 15,000 residents in downtown were without electricity, but 56 Marietta reported no interruptions in grid power due to the storm. “We’ve been running on full power,” said Ilissa Miller of Telx. “Everything is up and running and our facilities were not affected. There’s a tremendous amount of glass on some parts of Marietta Street, but we’ve been operating as usual.”

CH2M Hill Buys Atlanta Data Center

The IT management dvision of CH2M HILL has acquired a 10,000 square foot Atlanta facility to support its managed services business, the company said today. CH2M Hill said the expansion was prompted by growth in its client base in the southeastern United States. The company has a 43,000 square foot IT managed services facility in Denver.

The managed services unit of CH2M HILL operates and maintains IT infrastructures and network-based services for clients worldwide. The company also designs data centers, including an Oregon facility that supports power loads exceeding 500 watts per square foot. The company’s primary focus is engineering, and business appears to be booming. The company has hired nearly 900 people during the first quarter and plans to hire 6,000 more people by the end of the year to support a growing number of water, transportation, environmental and industrial projects around the world.

Savvis Will Build 4 New Data Centers

Savvis (SVVS) today announced plans to develop four new data centers to help meet customer demand for its managed hosting and colocation services. The new facilities will be located in Atlanta, New York, Washington, DC and Santa Clara, Calif., and should be open to customers in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The announcement comes on the same day that Savvis announced the sale of its content distribution network to Level 3 for $135 million, which provides Savvis with a financial warchest to invest in new data centers. Savvis said it anticipates spending approximately $200 million in 2007 to fully develop the four centers, and said it has executed lease agreements for each of the sites, one of which is contingent upon certain conditions expected to be met in January 2007.

“SAVVIS is focused on delivering IT infrastructure as a service and we’re committed to being a leader in this space,” said Phil Koen, SAVVIS’ Chief Executive Officer. “Our new data center facilities, opening in the fourth quarter 2007, will provide customers with state-of-the-art managed hosting and colocation services, including our industry-leading virtualized utility services.”

Tulix Expands With Atlanta Data Center

Application service provider TULIX Systems, Inc. has expanded in the Atlanta market with a new data center located in the 55 Marietta Street carrier hotel. The new facility gives provides important access to Internet backbones for TULIX, which provides streaming audio and video applications to its customers, primarily in telecom. The ability to peer with major backbones within 55 Marietta should provide the company with significant cost savings. TULIX currently owns a high security data center located in the financial district of Atlanta’s Buckhead’s section.

“With the acquisition of (the data center at) 55 Marietta Street, we have full mirroring between the two data centers, providing us with the ability to offer ‘hot backup’ at two geographically independent locations, both of which are under our control,” said George Bokuchava, CEO of TULIX. “Our goal is to provide our customers with unparalleled opportunities for geographic content distribution and geographic load balancing, so we can empower them to achieve their communications goals and objectives.”