CRG West Rebranding as CoreSite

Data center developer CRG West is rebranding itself as CoreSite, the company said today. The new name reflects the national scope of the company’s operations after several years of active expansion in its data center footprint.

“It’s something we’ve been working on for about a year,” said David Dunn, Senior Vice President of CRG West/CoreSite. “We’re going to be a little different going forward. We’re going to continue to maintain our unique position in offering both wholesale data center space and collocation services, as well as peering through either direct connections or our Any2 exchange.”

CRG West initially focused on West Coast carrier hotels, owning and operating One Wilshire in Los Angeles and the Market Post Tower in San Jose. The company, a unit of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group,  has since expanded by acquiring and developing  additional sites, and now has 11 data centers in seven geographic markets - Los Angeles, San Jose,  Boston, Chicago, New York, Miami  and Washington D.C./Northern Virginia.

CRG West, Verari Partner on Containers

CRG West has expanded its initiative to host data center containers, announcing this week that it streamline deployment of Verari Systems’ FOREST containers in its data centers.  CRG West, which recently announced a similar agreement to support the HP POD container, appears to be the only wholesale data center provider pursuing the container market with enthusiasm.   

By providing plug-n-play infrastructure and security for containers, CRG West hopes to tap a market for companies that are interested in using containers for rapid expansion, but have run out of power or cooling capacity needed to install containers at their existing data centers.    

“Traditional brick-and-mortar data centers are becoming an increasingly less optimal solution for many enterprise customers because of the rising costs associated with building and powering them,” said Mark MacAuley, vice president of Strategic Accounts, CRG West.

iland Expands in Two Cities With CRG West

iland Internet Solutions, a Houston provider of colocation and hosted VMware solutions, is expanding to the East Coast in CRG West facilities in Boston and Northern Virginia, the company said today. The new locations will offer virtualization-enabled solutions and applications to iland’s customers, as well as the ability to replicate data across the country.

iland will offer offer traditional colocation, managed storage and disaster recovery at both sites. The expansion gives iland’ “Virtual Data Centers” in Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Boston and the DC area.

“We strategically select the cities that have a growing demand for bandwidth-intensive services and applications, and we select key, state-of-the-art buildings within these cities, such as CRG West’s facilities, to house our hubs according to the highest industry standards,” said Scott Sparvero, CEO of iland Internet Solutions. “This guarantees iland customers the most secure and robust network and cost-saving opportunities.”

Wolverine Trading Expands With CRG West

Low-latency trading specialist Wolverine Trading will expand its New York operations in new space at the CRG West data center at 32 Avenue of the Americas, the companies said today. In addition to proprietary trading, Wolverine also offers technology solutions to other financial trading operations. The Chicago company said CRG West’s New York data center provides it with one of the lowest latency offerings available.

“The importance of low-latency access has increased along with the level of available technology,” said Jeremy Krinn, a member of the Market Data Group at Wolverine Trading. “The pursuit of a latency advantage is equivalent to an arms race. We now measure throughput in nanoseconds. Wolverine knows well the importance of a solid infrastructure and we consider CRG West’s properties to be consistently among the best.”

CRG West Customizes for HP Containers

The HP-POD data center container.

When the first commercial data center containers were introduced, securities analysts quizzed data center and colocation providers about whether this new approach posed a threat to their business models. The use cases for containers are still evolving, but at least one data center operator sees them as an opportunity, rather than a threat.

CRG West has announced that it is has teamed with HP to quickly deploy HP POD (Performance-Optimized Datacenter) containers at its facilities in Boston, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. CRG West says it believes hosting containers in a third-party data center can provide advantages to on-premises deployments.

The new offering may appeal to companies who are looking to expand their in-house data centers, according to David Dunn, Senior Vice President of CRG West. Dunn said that installing an HP POD or other container outside an existing facility can help companies that are out of physical space, but doesn’t address the challenges for companies that have run out of power or cooling capacity.

CRG West Positioned to Host Derivatives Hub

427 South LaSalle, the former Western Union building in Chicago.

Nestled amid a hub of commodities exchanges in downtown Chicago, the former Western Union building at 427 South LaSalle Street bumps up against an alphabet soup of high stakes financial activity. The Chicago Stock Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) are immediately across LaSalle Street, while the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) frame the north side of the building.

When CRG West bought 427 South LaSalle last May, the building’s focus was primarily  telecom. The company has invested $20 million in infrastructure upgrades to make the building more attractive to web hosting and financial companies, which are keen on its extraordinary proximity to the exchanges. One of its new customers could position the site as a key exchange for financial derivatives trading.   

It’s not the first time that an aging Chicago landmark has been transformed into a  data center hub. A decade ago CRG West’s parent company, The Carlyle Group, worked with Core Location to redevelop 350 East Cermak into the city’s largest data center facility. The former printing plant now has more than 70 tenants, including many key players in the Chicago commodity exchanges. 

CRG West’s makeover of 427 LaSalle has gotten off to a strong start. The building has numerous telecom tenants (15 carriers offer service), and CRG West is converting all unleased space into raised-floor data centers. The company has filled about 70 percent of its first phase, with tenants including Layered Technologies’ FastServers unit and SkyCreek Corp., which provides automated customer support for enterprise customers.  

CRG West recently announced a deal providing a beachhead in the lucrative financial hosting market. The International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG) has chosen 427 South LaSalle for a new electronic marketplace to make it easier to price and trade derivatives.

Derivatives Exchange Boosts CRG West in Chicago

The International Derivatives Clearing Group (IDCG) said today that it has deployed its over-the-counter interest rate swap exchange at a Chicago data center operated by CRG West. IDCG’s exchange requires low latency connectivity to clear and settle interest rate swap contracts and other fixed income derivatives contracts. It will operate from CRG West’s Chicago data center at 427 LaSalle (pictured at left), which offers access to Chicago’s primary fiber routes.

The IDCG hopes to address a major issue in the recent credit crisis: the inability to price and trade derivatives, which are financial instruments based on the price of other assets. The IDCG says one its goals is to reducde “counterparty credit risk associated with the current market dynamics.” Its investors include the NASDAQ OMX Group, which operates the NASDAQ stock exchange. “Our goal here is to bring transparency to an opaque market,” NASDAQ OMX Group CEO Bob Greifeld told analysts last week in describing its investment. The IDCG has applied to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to be designated as a derivatives clearing organization. 

“The demand for low-latent connectivity necessitates a flexible robust offering to the trading community,” stated Gerry Lawlor, IDCG Chief Technology Officer in New York, NY. “CRG West’s offering is second-to none and we look forward to expanding that high-quality service to our own client base.”

CRG West Adds Tenant at Reston Exchange

CRG West said today that InfoSpace, Inc. (INSP) has moved into 1,000 square feet of space in its Reston Exchange data center in northern Virginia. InfoSpace, a developer of meta-search products, is best known for Dogpile.com, which combines the top results from the leading search engines. InfoSpace has signed a multi-year data center agreement to expand beyond its existing data center operations in Seattle. CRG West will provide support the electrical and HVAC infrastructure for InfoSpace and provide cabinet space and remote hands support.

The Reston Exchange offers cold row and hot air containment through a combination of a raised floor and a drop ceiling with a return air plenum, according to CRG West Senior Vice President David Dunn. It is among the CRG West data centers offering metered power pricing that allows customers to pay for the power they use, rather than a flat monthly per circuit fee. CRG West operates more than 2 million square feet of carrier hotel and data center space in nine facilities in Los Angeles, San Jose, Chicago, Boston, Miami, northern Virginia and New York.