Avison Young is Canada’s largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company. Headquartered in Toronto, the company has more than 800 real estate professionals in 26 offices across Canada and the U.S.

Kerrigan and Horowitz join Avison Young after spending eight years together at The Staubach Company, and most recently at Grubb & Ellis where they led the formation of the Data Center Group. Kerrigan and Horowitz have assisted clients including Citigroup, Server Central, Dupont Fabros, Equinix, Fidelity Information Systems, United Airlines, Servint and CyrusOne.

“The addition of Jim and David to the Avison Young team shows our firm’s continued commitment to client service through superior expertise,” said Michael McKiernan, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the company’s Chicago office. “Jim and David’s expertise in mission critical facilities allows Avison Young’s clients to tap into some of the best experience in America on protecting intellectual capital. For our clients, downtime could be the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.

“More than 50 percent of companies run out of space due to power and cooling constrictions that could easily be avoided with the proper real estate strategy,” McKiernan added. “Jim and David understand that the approach to data center planning has little to do with square footage and everything to do with the proper planning for racks and kilowatts.”

During the last several years, Kerrigan has completed more than 3 million square feet worth of data center transactions and worked on more than $150 million in private equity transactions and $75 million in investor banking transactions. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois. He is a member of the Chicago Office Leasing Brokers Association (COLBA), and has served as a board member of 7×24 Exchange (Lake Michigan Region) and Beacon Therapeutic School, a not-for-profit corporation that promotes the welfare of children with severe emotional problems.

“I am pleased to be joining a forward-thinking company such as Avison Young, and to be delivering this service option during the company’s unprecedented period of expansion,” said Kerrigan. ““The consolidation of our competitors into publicly-traded entities has eliminated options for clients seeking knowledge and advice from privately-held real estate consultancies. We understand client concerns across Canada and the U.S. and can help create individualized solutions.”

Horowitz has successfully completed more than 100 megawatts of data center transactions during the last eight years, representing some of the largest technology companies in the world. His specialties include site-selection for colocation and wholesale data centers, lease/license negotiations, acquisitions and dispositions, power and fiber analysis, strategic planning, financial analysis, and real estate tax analysis.

Horowitz holds a business communications degree from the University of Kansas and is also a member of the Healthy Schools Campaign finance committee and a founding member of the Illinois Holocaust Museum. “To become a Principal in such a dynamic, growing company as Avison Young represents a significant opportunity for me at this point in my career,” said Horowitz.

Companies selling wholesale data center space say corporate America’s appetite for IT infrastructure remains strong, with some regional variation in demand for data center space and customer timelines for expansion.

Data Center Knowledge touched base with some providers of wholesale data center space in the wake of Tuesday’s earnings report from DuPont Fabros Technology, which said it was seeing slightly slower leasing in several markets, including New Jersey and northern Virginia.

DuPont Fabros said it remained confident that demand for data center space would remain strong, and noted that it leased more than 24 megawatts of space in 2011. But it also adjusted its revenue guidance to account for the moderate pace of leasing.

Other wholesale providers say demand remains solid.

“We just had the largest quarter of new signed leases we’ve ever had,” said Michael Foust, chief executive officer of Digital Realty Trust, the world’s largest landlord of data center properties. “We’re really seeing good activity, and our funnel of prospects is as big as it’s ever been.”

Active Year in 2011

In 2011, Digital Realty leased 1.2 million square feet of space, representing $131 million in annualized rent. That total included 481,000 square feet of finished “turnkey” wholesale space and 273,000 square feet of build-to-suit projects. An outsized chunk of that activity came in the last three months of the year, when Digital Realty signed leases for 446,000 square feet of space.

In the wholesale data center model, a tenant leases a dedicated, fully-built data center space. The wholesale data center model offers greater control and security than shared colocation space, and better economics than building an entire new data center. The developer bears the cost of building out the raised-floor space, but the tenant pays higher rents.

Northern Virginia has historically been one of the strongest data center markets, with a heavy concentration of fast-growing Internet companies. Both Foust and DuPont Fabros’ CEO Hossein Fateh said they expect that northern Virginia will remain a vibrant market, even as several new market entrants, RagingWire and Sabey Data Centers, open facilities later this year.

NJ Market Tied to Wall Street

The New Jersey market has previously been the focus of concern about potential imbalances between supply and demand. This is due in part to the region’s focus on customers in the financial services and healthcare industries, who tend to be more deliberate in their decision-making process and are shopping carefully for data center space.

“New Jersey has been a good market,” said Foust. “Because it’s so closely tied to Wall Street, the sales cycles have extended a little bit. But the major firms we talk to on Wall Street say they are expecting significant additional expansion of their infrastructure, so I think we’ll start seeing some absorption in New Jersey.”

“We actually feel pretty good about leasing in New Jersey,” said Joshua Rabina, co-president of Sentinel Data Centers, who operates a wholesale data center in central New Jersey. “We are progressing with construction of our next phase and I’m optimistic that we will have much of it leased upon delivery later in the year. It’s not 2007, but we feel demand is very healthy.”

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AT&T Wireless, the country’s second-largest cell phone service provider, has continuously occupied the property since it was built in 1995 and over the past three years invested more then $50 million of its own capital to upgrade the facility. with plans for additional investment.

The National Network Operations Center is located in Redmond, with easy access to Interstate 405 and State Route 520, and situated adjacent to a primary telecommunication fiber corridor.

“The acquisition of the AT&T Wireless National Network Operations Center represents the REIT’s first major acquisition in the Pacific Northwest,” said Michael Escalante, Griffin Capital’s Chief Investment Officer. “The Puget Sound region, buoyed by such corporate stalwarts as Boeing, Costco and Microsoft, has shown tremendous resilience since 2008 and remains one of the fastest growing MSA’s in the country, fueled by the success of a number of technology-oriented companies including Amazon and Expedia.”

Excalante called the AT&T Wireless property “a one-of-a-kind telecommunications facility located in the heart of a dynamic market that can best be described as the Silicon Valley of the Pacific Northwest.”

Los Angeles-based Griffin Capital is the sponsor of Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, Inc., a publicly-registered, non-traded real estate investment trust. Griffin Capital and its affiliates have invested over $26 million of capital into the REIT. Griffin Capital has a sixteen-year track record sponsoring real estate investment vehicles and managing institutional capital. The company has acquired or constructed over 11 million square feet of space since 1996, and currently manages a portfolio of more than 7.8 million square feet located in 12 states, representing approximately $900 million in asset value.

“It’s quite an extraordinary investment,” Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, who has been involved in the recruitment effort, told the Omaha World-Herald. “We’re one of the finalists, and I think we have an outstanding opportunity to have this occur.”

The company behind Project Edge is looking to break ground in May for a $500 million first-phase. Economic development officials in Nebraska have been aggressively pursuing data center projects in recent years, with its most notable win being as Yahoo facility in La Vista. The state has identified numerous site with the power and fiber infrastructure to support a major data center.

One of those sites in Kearny, Nebraska is rumored to be among the leading sites being considered by Project Edge.

State lawmakers are working on two bills that could sweeten the pot for the prospect with incentives on taxes and power. One bill would offer refunds on property taxes and taxes on server equipment, while the second measure would allow public power districts in Nebraska to offer discounted pricing on excess power to land a major data center project.

Few Clues About Mystery Prospect

So who is the prospect? No obvious answers emerge. The field of prospects is narrowed by the scope of the project and the the fact that three of the huge companies best known for secretive site selections – Google, Microsoft and Yahoo – already operate major data centers in the region. Google and Microsoft each have facilities in Iowa, while Yahoo has its data center in La Vista.

These companies have found that as their Internet infrastructure reaches a certain scale, operating a data center in the middle of the U.S. makes sense. What companies are on the cusp of this type of network growth?

One possible candidate is Apple, especially given its $1billion investment in its new data center in North Carolina. As we’ve noted several times previously, it’s likely that Apple will need at least one other large data center complex to provide backup capabilities for the facility in North Carolina. With $98 billion in cash, Apple has the means to fund large infrastructure projects to pursue its cloud computing ambitions.

But Apple has reportedly been scouting sites in Oregon, which suggests that it may follow the lead of Facebook and focus on placing its infrastructure on either coast – a strategy that helps with content delivery and also provides the ability to keep copies of critical data “out of region” so that a single natural disaster wouldn’t threaten the survival of the data.

So who is the mystery company behind Project Edge? Stay tuned, as we’ll continue to track this story.

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.”

Located at 14500 W. 105th Street in Lenexa, the new 57,517 square foot facility will be a little over 30 miles north of its first Kansas City data center located in the southern portion of the city. Construction is expected to begin next month and the project will create more than 60 jobs.  The Kansas City Area Development Council, the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Lenexa Chamber and Economic Development Council worked together to bring CoSentry to the Kansas City region.

All points lead to Kansas City

“CoSentry performed an extensive market analysis prior to selecting the Kansas City area for our newest data center. We considered factors including business climate, incentives, and power costs,” said Doug West, vice president and general manager for CoSentry’s south region. “We started with 21 markets, and the Kansas City area ultimately rose to the top after a two-year evaluation process.”

Colliers International led the real estate search on behalf of the company. Kansas City is home to Sprint’s world headquarters and was the first city selected to receive Google Fiber. CoSentry has facilities in Nebraska, Missouri and South Dakota and was acquired last October by Private equity firm TA Associates. 

Metro Cloud

CoSentry also recently announced it has completed construction of its latest generation of high-performance, PCI-certified cloud platforms. That CoSentry platform integrates with a fiber build by CenturyLink (CTL) to provide a new service called the CoSentry Metro Cloud.

“Often, client-led innovation is the most meaningful because you create solutions for a precise problem,  said CoSentry CEO, Mike Steffan.  ”That’s what the Metro Cloud is about, clients asking us to provide a fully-integrated cloud solution that provides all networking, processing and storage elements in one convenient, managed service. And with the expansion of the CenturyLink network into all of our data centers, it becomes affordable for any size client across a wide geography.”

Available now in Omaha the service bundles robust local access links, web and application servers, storage and backup services, internet access and 24-hour help desk support into an affordable service.

“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.