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• Roundup: Cisco’s Space Router, AboveNet

  January 25th, 2010 : John Rath

  Here’s a roundup of some of some of this week’s headlines from the data center and hosting industry:

  Cisco space router operates in orbit. On Monday Cisco announced that their Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) technology has achieved a major milestone with the successful in-orbit test of the Cisco IOS software’s networking capabilities and the company’s on-board router. The technology was aboard an Intelsat IS-14 commercial GEO satellite and launched November 23, 2009. The Cisco IRIS technology is a program to build a radiation-tolerant IP router for satellite and related spacecraft. Cisco vice president for the Global Government Solutions Group Steven Boutelle said “this milestone is another step in our strategy to expand borderless networks into space and redefine how satellite communications are delivered. This technology can help transform satellite communications around the world by reducing latency and increasing the efficiency.” Managed by Cisco and Intelsat the IRIS program is a Department of Defense Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) and the payload will convert to commercial use following a three month JCTD in April 2010.

  AboveNet connects all 20 Equinix U.S. data centers. Equinix (EQIX) and AboveNet (ABVT) announced that AboveNet has deployed operations to the Equinix New York-1 data center, marking the company’s deployment to all 20 of Equinix’s IBX centers in the U.S.  AboveNet offers managed services, Ethernet, metro networks and a global Tier 1 optical IP network.  Making use of the Equinix global services delivery platform, AboveNet will enhance peering capabilities with other Tier 1 networks.  Equinix chief marketing officer Jarrett Appleby said “our partnership with AboveNet offers a strong Tier 1 network and high bandwidth connectivity solution options for the community of IBX participants while offering AboveNet significant new revenue opportunities and a national infrastructure for Tier 1 peering and future carrier Ethernet needs.”  Equinix acquisition target Switch and Data announced that Lexent Metro Connect, a dark fiber network provider in New York, has become part of the Switch and Data GeoReach program.  Lexent Metro Connect has also completed construction of a low-latency dark fiber network route to Switch and Data’s North Bergen site located in New Jersey.  The GeoReach program is a select group of providers who have engineered their networks to meet the needs of the high-efficiency trading community.

  Huawei to deploy DWDM platform for GlobeNet. Global telecommunications solution provider Huawei was selected to deploy a next generation DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical platform for network transport services company GlobeNet. The Huawei platform will connect GlobeNet’s cable landing station in southern New Jersey to its Point of Presence sites in New York city via two diverse paths. The diverse paths will allow GlobeNet to deliver services to their other sites in Brazil, Venezuela, Bermuda, Florida and others. The network solution provided by Huawei will support 10Gb per second, 40GB per second and future 100Gb per second wavelengths to competitively deliver advanced, high bandwidth services.

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• The Politics of Data Centers: NY, Texas, Missouri

  January 6th, 2010 : Rich Miller

  In recent years we’ve seen data centers become embroiled in state politics on topics such as whether to build new state data centers to manage citizens’ tax and benefit issues, where to put those data centers, who to hire to operate them, and whether to offer tax incentives to establish a state as a destination for development. This week we’ve data center make headlines in several states.

  New York: It’s been more than three years since we first reported on the infighting among New York State legislators about where to build a new state data center. Well, they’re still fighting. The Albany Times-Union reports that officials are still battling over the site location dispute. The NY state Office of General Services is evaluating 18 proposals by developers to build a 72,000 square-foot data center for the state’s Office for Technology. The leading contenders for the $99 million project are sites in Utica and the Mohawk Valley.

  Texas: On Tuesday, state officials released an “agreement in principle” for restructuring an $863 million contract with IBM to consolidate the data centers of 27 state agencies into two streamlined and upgraded facilities, according to the Austin Statesman. The huge project was launched in 2007 but has been plagued by delays and equipment failures.

  Missouri: The state General Assembly in Missouri hopes to consider targeted tax incentives that will help the state attract more data center projects. Business groups, including the Missouri Coalition for Data Centers, hope to build upon a cluster of enterprise disaster recovery data centers in the Kansas City, and boost interest in the development of the state’s abundant supply of limestone caves as data center facilities. Missouri is home to several existing underground data bunkers, including The Mountain Complex near Branson and the Springnet Underground in Springfield.
  

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• Russo Plans Large North Jersey Data Center

  December 7th, 2009 : Rich Miller

  Northern New Jersey has been an active data center market, driven by demand the financial sector. It looks the area will soon have yet another large data center, and a financial firm is rumored to be the tenant. Last Thursday the Passaic County Planning Board gave conditional approval for a plan Russo Development to build a 284,342 square foot data center in Clifton.

  The project is slated to be built in a former Automatic Data Processing facility on Main Avenue in Clinton. Russo Development has not identified the potential occupant, but Clinton officials have told local media they expect the tenant to be Credit Suisse, which has met with township economic development officials.

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• Roundup: Equinix, Switch & Data, The Planet

  November 11th, 2009 : John Rath

  Here’s a roundup of news announcements from the data center and hosting industry:

  • Hibernia Atlantic expands to two Equinix data centers. Submarine transport cable provider Hibernia Atlantic announced Tuesday the expansion of its Global Financial Network(GFN) into the Equinix New York-2 and New York-4 data centers in Secaucus, New Jersey.  The expansion from Hibernia aims to provide low latency, redundancy and connectivity to global banks and exchanges in the New York metro area.  Hibernia’s GFN spans 24,000 Kilometers (14,913 miles) of fiber optic cables across key financial cities around the world.  “Our continued GFN expansion in New York metro and in other major financial centers reflects our core commitment to provide ‘security through diversity’—our company philosophy that offers world-class, redundant solutions to our financial customers,” said Bob McMann, VP of Provisioning and Procurement for Hibernia
  • Switch & Data selected by Pragma Securities. Switch & Data announced that Pragma Securities, a trading solutions provider has selected their New York Financial EcoCenter to optimize the performance of its quantitative trading solution.  After an extensive diligence process Pragma selected the North Bergen, New Jersey data center to host its trading execution services, and will be one cross connect away from the other electronic trading customers in the site.
  • Nimsoft introduces alliance program. Following the October launch of their Unified Monitoring Solutions, Nimsoft announced their charter members in the Unified Monitoring Alliance Tuesday.  The new monitoring solution provides a total, unified view of both internal and external IT resources.  The Unified Monitoring Alliance partners are made up of service providers, solution partners and technology development partners.  Partners like FusionStorm, Ingram Micro, Shavlik, Service-now.com, Rackspace and many others are among the first to join the alliance.  “The alliance not only expands opportunities for growth and collaborative innovation for our partners, but also effectively increases the breadth and depth of the systems monitoring and management solutions that Nimsoft offers to its customers,” said Nimsoft President Gary Read said
  • The Planet signs Ayuda Networks. The Planet announced Tuesday that Ayuda Networks has signed on to join the company’s recently launched Partner Plus program.  Ayuda Networks consults with clients to evaluate connectivity requirements and implement the best solutions for their specific business.  Ayuda will add The Planet to its portfolio of top-tier solution providers and include them in recommendations to clients evaluating managed and dedicated hosting, as well as colocation services.
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• DataPipe Acquires NJ Data Center

  October 7th, 2009 : Rich Miller

  Managed hosting provider DataPipe has acquired its seventh data center, adding a third data center facility in Somerset, New Jersey, the company said today. The new facility is a 55,000 square foot data center that was previously used by a multi-national financial services firm. The site can support 45,000 square feet of raised floor with a critical power load of 8 megawatts.

  The “Somerset Three” facility follows the 2006 acquisition of the company’s first Somerset facility and the 2008 expansion into a second facility. Upgrades to the power infrastructure and the implementation of three-factor security systems are expected to be complete for an April, 2010 opening.

  The acquisition continues the strong activity in the New Jersey data center market. In recent months, New York Internet has announced a new facility in Bridgewater, while HCL America has acquired a data center in Parisppany. Equinix has also been building out additional space in its data center complex in Secaucus.

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• Zayo Takes Over 60 Hudson Meet-Me-Room

  September 10th, 2009 : Rich Miller

  Regional telecom provider Zayo Group has acquired FiberNet Telecom Group, which provides colocation and connectivity between major carrier hotels. Ar part of the deal, Zayo will become the manager and operator of the 60 Hudson St. Meet-Me-Room in New York City, along with interconnection facilities at 111 8th Avenue in Manhattan, 165 Halsey in New Jersey and key buildings in Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.

  “The strategic foundation of Zayo Group is to provide bandwidth infrastructure services to carriers, internet companies, and other large consumers of bandwidth,” explained Dan Caruso, CEO of Zayo Group. “FiberNet’s important role in providing connectivity in and between the major carrier hotels is a natural extension of Zayo’s bandwidth services.”

  The closing ends a takeover process that began when Zayo and Fibernet announced a deal in May, only to have RCN Communications launch a competing bid in June, and then drop out a month later.

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• New York Internet to Add NJ Data Center

  September 9th, 2009 : Rich Miller

  Colocation specialist New York Internet has announced plans to open a new data center in Bridgewater, New Jersey later this year. The 40,000 square foot facility at 999 Frontier Road will “operate seamlessly” with NYI’s primary data center in Lower Manhattan, the company said. New York Internet provides colo services to many financial firms, and makes regular appearances on Netcraft’s rankings of the most reliable hosting providers. The new facility is designed to provide expanded disaster recovery and business continuity services for New York Internet’s customers.

  “999 Frontier will enable us to deliver new and unprecedented levels of service,” Phillip Koblence, vice president of New York Internet, told The WHIR. “Between the facility itself and the list of partners we are assembling, customers who have come to love the NYI experience will be thrilled with the results.”

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• Is NYSE’s NJ Data Center A Game Changer?

  September 8th, 2009 : Rich Miller

  New Jersey is a hotbed of data center infrastructure to support low-latency trading. Providers like Savvis and Equinix have repeatedly expanded their north Jersey colocation hubs to support the booming business in “proximity hosting” providing traders with warp-speed connections to the servers run by major exchanges.

  One of those exchanges is about to get into the game. Seeking to get a bigger piece of the action, NYSE Euronext is building a 400,000 square foot data center in Mahwah, New Jersey that will offer a large footprint of colo space for low-latency trading operations. The facility is expected to come online sometime in 2010.

  Analysts and traders alike are wondering whether the new facility will have a disruptive impact on the market for high frequency trading and the lucrative business housing the servers to support it. 

  The NYSE’s Colo Ambitions
  The NYSE isn’t bashful in talking about its ambitions for its new data center. “When people talk about the New York Stock Exchange, this is it,” NYSE Euronext Co-Chief Information Officer Stanley Young told the Wall Street Journal about the new data hub. “This is our future.”

  The Mahwah facility is part of a major data center overhaul for the NYSE, which is building a similar center near London, and continues to maintain centers in New York and Paris. The new facilities will provide the next-generation capabilities that traders crave.   

  “We are approaching our new data center design with fresh thinking and innovative ways to maximize space and cost to deliver the lowest latency and best performance to our customers,” said Steve Rubinow, co-Chief Information Officer of NYSE Euronext, who said  the new facility will give the NYSE an advantage with “the most obsessive traders.” And for the low latency crowd, the obsession is speed, and more of it.

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• Water Main Break Floods Key NYC Telecom Hub

  August 7th, 2009 : Rich Miller
  

  A map showing the location of the water main break (A) at West Broadway and Duane streets and its proximity to the 60 Hudson Street carrier hotel (the large building between Hudson and West Broadway (image from Google Maps)

  A major water main break in New York has flooded streets near 60 Hudson Street, one of the most important communications buildings in Manhattan. The flood resulted in more than three feet of water in part of the basement of 60 Hudson, which houses data centers and telecom hubs for more than 100 communications companies. New York emergency officials are aware of the building’s strategic importance and using sandbags to try and limit water damage at the building.

  Early reports from Telx, one of the major tenants at 60 Hudson, reports no major operational impact from the flooding. “Telx is and has been in normal operation,” the company said in a statement. “The company’s vault was unaffected because Telx is served from the mezzanine level. Water has subsided in basement, but the company has the on-site facility crew ready to implement emergency procedures if need be.”

  UPDATE: Through the weekend we have seen no reports of service incidents related to the water main break. Given the seriousness of the initial reports, it’s a very good outcome.  

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