The new designation from the Uptime Institute provides third-party assurance that the site management satisfies industry-recognized criteria for 24 x 7 uptime. The evaluation criteria was developed by and for the data center industry and validates staffing levels, a training and professional development assessment, preventative maintenance program and processes, operating conditions and housekeeping, and planning management and coordination practices and resources. To have a site awarded the Management and Operations Stamp of Approval it must be an operational data center, have 24×7 uptime, have a significant cost of downtime, be a non-Tier certified design and facility, and have a commitment to excellence in operations.

Equinix

Equinix (EQIX) announced that  it is the first company in the Americas to receive the new Management and Operations (M&O) ‘Stamp of Approval’ Award. Equinix was a key member of the Uptime Institute’s eleven member M&O Coalition that developed the assessment criteria for its new Management and Operations Program and Site Assessment Service. “Equinix’s exceptional uptime is one of the most important reasons our customers choose us and our work with the Uptime Institute helps us become even stronger in the critical area of management and operations,” said John Shultz, vice president, global product management and development at Equinix. The site award was given to the  Equinix Ashburn data center.

Colt

Colt announced that it has been awarded the Management and Operations Stamp of Approval for its London 3 site. Colt underwent an intensive audit which scrutinized every aspect of how it manages and operates its data center site. The audit took into consideration everything from the processes for servicing equipment and investment in training through to the effectiveness of its communications to staff and subcontractors.
“This is a milestone, not only for Colt but for the industry as a whole,” said Guy Ruddock, VP of Operations at Colt. “This standard is industry-led and directly links staffing, maintenance and operations to uptime and through it we have proved our people and processes are world class.”

“Colt’s participation in the coalition went above and beyond our expectations,” said Julian Kudritzki, Vice President at the Uptime Institute, “not only helping clarify those behaviours that need to exist in a data centre, independent of the infrastructure, but opening up access to staff and facilities for hands-on validation.”

Phoenix NAP completes Secured Servers acquisition. Phoenix NAP announced that it has completed the formal acquisition of Secured Servers, LLC. Last summer the company announced an agreement that would make Secured Servers part of the Phoenix NAP operation. “This addition to Phoenix NAP falls right in line with our full service data center philosophy. We understand there are differing needs within the IT infrastructure space, and this acquisition puts us in a position to help address the variety of market demands,” said Ian McClarty, president of Phoenix NAP. “Our colocation options, public cloud services, and now dedicated hosting solutions reflect the ongoing commitment we have to be a go-to provider for established and emerging technologies.” Phoenix NAP Secured Servers will also be launching a new set of server hardware options in the coming weeks.

GoGrid selected by Conde Nast Germany.  GoGrid announced that Condé Nast Digital Germany relies on GoGrid cloud infrastructure services to distribute its content over the web. GoGrid earned the publisher’s trust through proven uptime, reliability and high standards for data security. With the GoGrid hybrid architecture, cloud servers provide the cost and efficiency advantages of virtualized hardware, while dedicated machines store data and run database functions, enabling the use of security best practices. “Two things are absolutely essential to our success: costs and quality,” said Hans Teske, chief technology officer at Condé Nast Digital Germany. “We provide our web visitors so much more than just magazine articles, and that keeps them on our sites longer. GoGrid’s cost-efficiency benefits let us focus on doing more strategic things like continually enhancing our offering and expanding to new or mobile devices.”

Sudlows to build Zen Internet data center.  UK infrastructure specialist Sudlows announced it has been appointed by ISP Zen Internet for the design and build of a new data center.  The new 1,350 square meter (14,531 square feet) facility will feature state of the art power and environmental management infrastructure, providing 2MVA of capacity. N+1 standby power generation and uninterruptible power will be supplied by Diesel Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supplies (DRUPS). “As the cloud computing trend continues to gather momentum and businesses are increasingly reliant on IT systems to function, it has never been more important to ensure that a company’s mission critical applications are hosted in a dedicated, energy efficient data centre. Providing a secure, temperature controlled environment, which has access to reliable, resilient power and connectivity,” said Andrew Saunders, Head of Product Management and Marketing at Sudlows.

Scheduled for completion in Q3 2012, the 6,400 square meter (68,000 square foot) AM3 facility is located in Amsterdam Science Park which, with over 250 networks, is one of the highest-density network zones in continental Europe.

The majority of NL-ix’s 43 sites in the Netherlands are access sites, offering 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s connections. There are also 24 “core sites” equipped with Brocade MLX switches and interconnected with multiple dark fibers and multiple 10 Gbit/s connections. Of these 24 core sites there are currently two “super-core-sites” which connect all the core-nodes and handle the majority of NL-ix traffic via these 100Gbit/s-capable switches. The AM3 facility will house a third “super-core-site.”

“The new Equinix data center is strategically located in one of the highest-density network zones in continental Europe, so it makes a great deal of sense to establish a high-capacity node in this state-of-the-art facility,” said Jan Hoogenboom, NL-ix CEO. “All of our members, as well as Equinix’s extensive customer base, stand to benefit substantially from the new node.”

“Hosting an NL-ix super-core-node gives our new facility an excellent head start where connectivity providers and their customers are concerned,” said Equinix Netherlands Managing Director Michiel Eielts. “Combined with the dynamic network, cloud and content ecosystems at work in Platform EquinixÔ, the new AM3 facility will be well placed to enable customer growth in one of Europe’s most dynamic, fast-growing and network-rich locations.”

“Telecloud is a joint venture between two industry leaders,” said Tokuji Mitsui, Managing Director of KDDI and Telehouse Europe. “It marks the next stage in the evolution of Europe’s first purpose-built data centre provider and a step forward for the cloud industry. The data centre is at the heart of a cloud solution making the physical infrastructure the integral role in maintaining the reliability and accessibility of a company’s application. That is why the partnership of Telehouse and KDDI brings a new unique perspective to the cloud market.”

“A number of our customers who could not compromise on reliability, security and latency have turned to us to provide them with a private cloud solution hosted from a securely protected environment,” said Nick Layzell, Head of System Integration and Cloud Solutions for KDDI.

Telehouse has been in expansion mode. In the past year it has added or expanded data centers in Frankfurt, New York, Hong Kong, South Africa and Istanbul.

“Data hosting is one of our critical areas of focus for the near future and will be a vital part of our return to growth,” said Gavin Darby, chief executive, Cable & Wireless Worldwide. “This announcement highlights the details of the plans we outlined in November last year. I believe that we are shaping our business to better serve our customers and secure our position in this growing market.”

“This important contract further consolidates Infinity’s strong position in the UK data centre market,” said Martin Lynch, CEO at Infinity. “Our commitment to quality and attention to operational detail was essential to CWW in selecting a partner for this most crucial part of their business. We look forward to developing a strong long term partnership with CWW in delivering against the demanding needs of their customers.”

RightScale boosts distribution with Korean partnership.  RightScale announced it has formed a partnership with Korean Internet Neutral eXchange (KINX) to be a RightScale authorized distributor in Korea. The partnership makes KINX a reseller of the RightScale Cloud Management Platform and will allow Korean companies to manage their applications on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) public clouds, private clouds and hybrid clouds. Customers will also have access to the RightScale MultiCloud Marketplace, which includes pre-built cloud-ready server templates, scripts, and complete architectures published by RightScale, Independent Software Vendors, and Systems Integration partners. “This partnership is an important part of our Asia Pacific strategy,” said Josh Fraser, Senior Vice President of Business Development at RightScale. “KINX’s broad reach in Korea will further extend our business, and give our Korean customers a trusted local partner. We look forward to supporting KINX’s growing cloud services.”

EvoSwitch adds 100GE AMS-IX backbone location. EvoSwitched announced that it  has been added to the list of colocation providers with an AMS-IX Point of Presence (PoP). After becoming an AMS-IX reselling partner in 2010 EvoSwitch will also be the first data center of its kind for which AMS-IX uses a single 100GE backbone connection. AMS-IX launched its 100GE ports last year. The increase in capacity was a step in preparation to the traffic peaks many Internet networks and providers will be facing. “The greater Amsterdam region is growing fast and attracting more and more IP density. This demand is partially created by companies such as EvoSwitch and its customers,” says Job Witteman, CEO of AMS-IX. “It is an impressive step forward to both the region and the collocation market that EvoSwitch’s Green and e-efficient datacenter will roll out a 100GE connection on a full basis, including backbone.” EvoSwitch’s AMS-IX PoP will go live in February 2012

Ciena selected by UK Operator Vaioni.  Ciena Corporation (CIEN) announced that Vaioni, the UK’s largest Ethernet aggregator, is deploying a range of Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet solutions as part of its enhanced Ethernet service offerings to enterprises, carriers and cloud providers across the country. After a detailed analysis and evaluation Vaioni selected Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet Service Delivery Portfolio for all network infrastructure equipment across an aggregated Ethernet fabric in the UK that also spans the globe. Vaioni selected Ciean’s 3916, 3920 and 3930 Service Delivery switches and 5150 Service Aggregation switch. “As our business grows and our customers demand faster and more effective service turn-up than ever before, the low-touch provisioning model of Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet platforms allows us to accelerate deployment times and significantly lower the cost of bringing new customers onto our network,” said Sachin Vaish, managing director at Vaioni.  ”Coupled with the reliability and scalability inherent in Ciena’s portfolio, these benefits are key in enabling us to offer industry-leading Service Level Agreements to our demanding customers and thrive in an increasingly competitive market. We will be the only UK operator to offer a full Carrier Ethernet proposition coupled with complete autonomy from Telecoms Carriers.”

Equinix selected by inContact.  Equinix (EQIX) announced that global call center service provider inContact has chosen to expand its offering in Europe with Platform Equinix. inContact will serve its fast-growing European customer base through Equinix’s Frankfurt and Munich IBX data centers. The move follows a recently announced global distribution agreement between inContact and unified communications leader Siemens Enterprise Communications, which meant inContact needed to expand rapidly in Europe with no impact to performance. “Organisations are increasingly looking to the cloud for business-critical infrastructure platforms and software applications, and cloud-based contact center solutions are one of the fastest growing areas,” said Dick Theunissen, CMO, Equinix EMEA. “The fact that a market leader like inContact selected Equinix for such a latency-sensitive platform is testament to the high application performance and the quality of user experience that can be delivered through the Platform Equinix ecosystem in Europe.”

Cisco powers Woodstock medical-grade network.  Cisco (CSCO) announced Toronto, Ontario-based Woodstock Hospital (WH) has selected a Cisco Medical-Grade network for its new facility, providing a highly resilient, innovative and economical solution to improving health services and advancing patient care. Highlights of the WH project included 1,000 IP phones, a 802.11n wireless network to support applications and real-time Location Based Services with RFID tracking, and Cisco products such as Catalyst 6500 series switches, Virtual Switching System 1140, firewall and packet inspection modules and Cisco Aironet 1142 wireless access points. “We applaud Woodstock Hospital’s use of an advanced medical-grade network, allowing them to drive enhanced clinical workflows while delivering the right information with a high degree of security to the right people at the right time, saving time for the staff and speeding up the delivery of care for patients,” said Brantz Myers, director, Healthcare Business Development, Cisco Canada. “Working with our ecosystem partners EllisDon and FlexITy, we are bringing together building design, construction and technology to build a leading-edge facility to advance patient care.”

Jamcracker and KPN partner.  Cloud Services Brokerage company Jamcracker and Dutch IT provider KPN announced they are partnering to create a cloud services aggregator platform for enterprise customers. Delivering on the KPN services aggregator strategy, the platform encompasses Jamcracker’s cloud services brokerage platform, enabling KPN to provide value-added services for their customers. This technology and business partnership is underpinned with a strategically important contract between the two companies. ”The KPN cloud aggregation and delivery platform leverages our telecommunications and IT expertise to help us deliver on our strategy to converging information, technology and telecommunications and to optimize opportunities for our customers,” said Steven van Schilfgaarde, CEO KPN Corporate Market. “By partnering with Jamcracker, we are able to work together on this vision and utilize the JSDN to quickly deliver a platform that sets a standard among enterprises.”

e-Shelter said the new investment would help it expand its data center construction efforts to meet demand in key European markets.

“We are delighted at the involvement of ABRY Partners and are convinced that ABRY will be a valuable partner in e-shelter’s further expansion,” said Rupprecht Rittweger, the founder and Managing Director of e-shelter. “This investment will allow us to move forward quickly with the development of new sites. In addition to our new facility in Rüsselsheim, which will meet the latest technological standards in terms of cooling and energy efficiency, we are also planning further centers in Berlin and Munich.”

ABRY Partners has been an active investor in the colocation and manage hosting industries. ABRY recently acquired Xand Technologies, owns a controlling interest in Toronto-area provider Q9 Networks and holds a significant equity stakes in Telx and DataPipe. It previously bought and sold CyrusOne and Hosted Solutions. All told, ABRY Partners has made investments worth more than $1.5 billion in the data center industry.

e-shelter opened its first data center in Switzerland in June 2011 in Rümlang near Zurich. Work on a further e-shelter data center in the Frankfurt area is now beginning in Rüsselsheim. A total of 17,600 square meters (190,000 square feet) of data center space will be completed in four construction phases on the 39,000 square meter site in Rüsselsheim. The first building is scheduled for completion in November 2012.

Iomart acquires EQSN.  Iomart announced that it has acquired the entire issued share capital of EQSN.  EQSN is a Glasgow based provider of managed services with two UK data centers in Glasgow and Edinburgh and one in Boston. “The addition of EQSN to the business is a strong strategic and cultural fit and will consolidate our position as a leading player in the managed hosting sector,” said Angus MacSween, Iomart CEO. “The Group will remain focused on providing practical, cost-effective solutions to customers’ IT needs. Customers increasingly demand reliable IT infrastructure-as-a-service as the need for a scalable and flexible way of working grows; with EQSN’s expertise, iomart is even better placed to deliver this.”

Equinix launches online instant test tool.  Equinix (EQIX) launched an online instant test tool with Compuware (CPWR) to help e-commerce providers ensure their sites’ performance will deliver during the busiest shopping days of the year. The site uses Compuware’s Gomez application performance management solution. The instant test tool evaluates the performance of e-commerce and other digital media websites against up to four other URLs, which could include competitors, industry leaders or other pages on a specific website. Research shows that 40 percent of consumers will not wait more than three seconds for a page to load before leaving a website, and this expectation is only increasing. The free instant test is available at: http://www.gomez.com/my-benchmark/partner-equinix/

Multiple customer wins for Peak 10.  Data center operator and managed services provider Peak 10 recently announced several customers had selected the company for services.  Peak 10 announced it is delivering premier data center services to Savant Learning Systems, a Nashville-based company that specializes in developing and delivering powerful online education programs. The company will be served out of Peak 10′s Nashville data center. Peak 10 also announced it is delivering data center services to HedgeFacts LLP, a leading provider of accounting, portfolio management, and performance and risk analytics for the alternative investment community. HedgeFacts is utilizing Peak 10’s hosting services, in the Cincinnati facility. “We chose to work with Peak 10 for its best-in-class facility and quality services to customers,” said Shelby Baird, director of technology and support services at HedgeFacts. “Peak 10 adds value to our expanding business by providing us with reliable access to world-class data center facilities with robust security infrastructures and redundant network pathways, allowing us to confidently focus on other strategic initiatives critical to our growth and success.”  Finally, Peak 10 announced it is delivering data center services to eQHealth Solutions Inc., a healthcare management company that provides a wide range of effective solutions to its clients. eQHealth will use hosting and outbound Internet and Metro Ethernet services from Peak 10′s Tampa, Florida data center.

Possibility of a Microsoft Data Center in South Korea.  The South Korea Herald reports that a Microsoft senior executive met South Korea‘s telecommunications regulator on Thursday to discuss ways to expand ties with South Korea by collaborating on new businesses that may include building a data center. In recent weeks several business leaders have visited the country, including Google’s Eric Schmidt and Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs.  Microsoft’s international business president Jean Philippe Courtois met with Choi See-joong, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission.  The two discussed investment opportunities and ways to collaborate with Korean companies. Microsoft said it is positively considering building and operating a data center in South Korea.

As part of the transaction, Oakley and its investors will supply 40 million euros ($53.5 million) of senior financing and equity. Intergenia’s founders, including senior management, will retain a 49 percent stake in the business. The transaction is expected to be completed on Dec. 31.

Oakley is an experienced investor in the European hosting sector. It bought HostEurope in 2008 for 120 million pounds, and sold the company two years later for 220 million pounds. The company has also invested in Pipex.

“We are delighted to be backing such a talented management team in an industry, namely web hosting, which we know well,” said Peter Dubens, Director of Oakley Capital Investments Limited. “Intergenia is an impressive company which has built one of Europe’s most energy efficient data centres, utilizing ground water cooling. The company’s highly efficient operating platform has allowed it to expand internationally with France, USA, Switzerland and Brazil being the largest contributors to revenue after Germany. intergenia is well positioned for growth in cloud hosting services and makes an attractive addition to Oakley Capital Private Equity L.P.’s portfolio

In this video from the Google Data Center Efficiency Summit in Zurich earlier this year, PlusServer CTO Jochen Berger describes how the company’s DataDock facility in Strasbourg uses groundwater cooling, pulling cold water from two wells that are 60 meters deep to support its heat exchangers. The ground water is between 12 and 14 C (54 to 57 degrees F). This video runs about 16 minutes.