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.

Savageau Named CTO at CRG West

John Savageau has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CRG West, the data center developer said yesterday. In his new role, Savageau will focus on expanding CRG West’s peering offerings and infrastructure. He most recently held the position of Managing Director and played an integral role in CRG West’s expansion from two data centers on the West Coast to its current footprint of 11 data centers in seven metropolitan areas across the U.S.

Savageau created CRG West’s Any2 Exchange platform and led the development of the company’s industry-leading branch-circuit monitoring system and online customer resource center. As CTO, Savageau will continue to lead the company’s ongoing evaluation of technologies that shape communications, data center design and management.

Data Center Tour: CRG West at 32Americas

CRG West held an event yesterday to mark the opening of its new data center facility at 32 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. The 50,000 square foot facility, branded as 32Americas, was once a cafeteria but has now been transformed into data center space. CRG West executives David Dunn and Joseph Kiaer were on hand to provide us with a walk-through of the facility. This video runs about 4 minutes, 15 seconds.

For more news about CRG West and its facilities, visit our CRG West Channel. For additional video, check out our DCK video archive and the Data Center Videos channel on YouTube.

CRG West Plans New Santa Clara Data Center

CRG West will build a data center campus in Santa Clara, Calif., continuing the company’s expansion of its data center footprint. The new project adds to the data center boom in Santa Clara, which is currently the focus of major new facilities from most of the industry’s largest players.

CRG West has closed on land for 350,000 square feet of data center and office space. Construction will start in August on the first building, with scheduled completion in the second quarter of 2009. The phased 50 megawatt development will be powered by Silicon Valley Power, the utility whose low power rates have made the city of Santa Clara a magnet for data center projects.

The first phase of the project will provide data center and peering services for CRG West customers, ranging from single-cabinet colocation space up to blocks of wholesale of up to 20 megawatts of power. The company is offering one of the planned buildings as a custom opportunity for a single user as part of CRG West’s recently-announced build-to-suit program for companies looking to expand their data center space while conserving capital.

CRG West Offers Build-to-Suit Services

CRG West is expanding its data center operations to include built-to suit services and sale/leaseback arrangements that can help companies reduce the capital requirements of their data center operations. The new services leverage the financial strength of CRG and its parent firm, the huge private equity firm The Carlyle Group, which has under $80 billion under management.

In adding custom data center development services, CRG West is following a model that has worked well for Digital Realty Trust (DLR), which has used its experience and financial strength to develop build-to-suit or turn-key data centers for many large customers, most recently Yahoo and Facebook. It also illustrates the incumbent advantage: the opportunity for experienced, well-capitalized data center specialists to extend their market leadership.

With 10 existing facilities, CRG West currently offers wholesale data center space in Boston and Los Angeles. Build-to-suit projects in each building can accommodate over 15 megawatts of power. CRG West said it is “currently evaluating additional wholesale transactions throughout the United States and abroad to meet the growing needs of its customers.”

“One of CRG West’s key differentiators is our ability to be flexible,” said David Dunn, Senior Vice President at CRG West. “Few companies can license you a cabinet, buy your existing corporate data center, and build you a new one. We are excited to offer this full range of services to meet the needs of our customers, no matter how large or complex.”