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Switch and Data Expands at Westin Building
January 13th, 2009 : Rich Miller
Colocation and interconnection specialist Switch and Data(SDXC) has expanded its data center space at the Westin Building, the largest carrier hotel in Seattle. The new suite adds nearly 9,000 gross square feet of additional capacity to Switch and Data’s existing facility at the Westin, where it now operates 65,000 square feet of space.Switch and Data said the expansion was needed to meet high customer demand for interconnections at The Westin Building, a major communications hub for IP traffic traversing the Northern Transpacific undersea fiber route between North America and Asia.
The new space can support power densities of 200 watts per square foot, and was finished in December, completing Switch and Data’s 2008 capacity expansion plan.
“Our Seattle market expansion builds on our plan to help our customers accelerate their Internet-centric businesses with high performance and availability,” said Ernie Sampera, Senior VP of Marketing for Switch and Data. “Switch and Data facilities give our customers access to a critical mass of network and bandwidth providers across the broadest footprint of key communications hub markets in North America.”
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Seattle Telecom Hub Fisher Plaza Is For Sale
May 28th, 2008 : Rich MillerFisher Plaza, a major data center and communications hub in Seattle, is for sale. Fisher Communications, Inc. (FSCI) said today that it is “exploring alternatives for its real estate holdings,” including Fisher Plaza.
Fisher Plaza is a Class A office, data center and retail campus near the Space Needle with approximately 294,000 rentable square feet. In 2008, Fisher expects the property to generate approximately $7.5 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
Internap (INAP) has a significant data center presence at Fisher Plaza, while other industry tenants include Adhost, Cogent Communications (CCOI), Electric Lightwave, AboveNet, Global Crossing, Time Warner Telecom and Qwest. Fisher Plaza also operates its own colocation space in the building
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King County Plans $21M Lease in Tukwila
August 30th, 2007 : Rich MillerThe county executive of King County, Washington has proposed spending $21 million to lease data center space in Tukwila, a Seattle suburb that is home to many existing data centers. The King County Council had previously considered buying and upgrading a building at 1130 Rainier Avenue in downtown Seattle, but ultimately dropped those plans in favor of the Tukwila lease. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a story that reviews the debate about the county’s decisions on its data center requirements.
The 1130 Rainier site, which was once the headquarters of digital music company Loudeye, would have housed the county’s elections equipment in addition to the data center. The county opted to lease space in Renton for the elections office, and seek separate digs for its data center. Critics say that splitting the data center and elections office requirements will be $15 million more than the estimated cost of buying and retrofitting the Seattle site, but some council members say the estimate for a rehab of 1130 Rainier may be on the low side.
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Ask.com Plans Washington St. Data Center
February 9th, 2007 : Rich MillerSearch engine Ask.com has signed a lease for a data center in an existing building in Moses Lake, Washington, according to John Cook of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, who said the company declined to name the building or specify the size of the data center.
Ask.com’s decision continues the data center building boom in central Washington State, where four other major projects are already underway. Microsoft has announced plans for a huge data center complex in Quincy, as has Intuit. Meanwhile, Yahoo and Sabey Corp. are starting projects in nearby Wenatchee.
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Internap Expands Again in Seattle
February 7th, 2007 : Rich MillerInternap (INAP) plans to add approximately 20,000 square feet to its Seattle data center real estate, marking its second expansion in six months in the Seattle market. Citing strong customer demand, Internap will lease space from Sabey Corporation at its Intergate data center in Tukwila, just outside Seattle. The deal includes an option to expand furtehr into an additional 30,000 square feet of contiguous data center space. The expansion increases Internap’s Seattle-area colocation footprint by 50 percent, and builds on an August expansion at Internap’s facility at Fisher Plaza in downtown Seattle. Completion is expected in June of 2007.
“This initiative is part of a strategic plan to enhance our data center offerings in key markets,” said James P. DeBlasio, chief executive officer of Internap. “With this expansion at Sabey, Internap now has its eighth managed facility, which demonstrates our commitment to serving our customers.”
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Qwest Opens Seattle Data Center
February 6th, 2007 : Rich MillerQwest Communications (Q) has opened a new “CyberCenter” in the Seattle area to provide hosting services to businesses, the company said this week. With the opening of the new data center, Qwest now operates 14 CyberCenters nationwide. New tenants in the center include Alaska Airlines.
“We are seeing a significant increase in the demand for Qwest managed hosting solutions, and the new Qwest CyberCenter will allow Qwest to expand the number of customers we can serve with leading broadband applications and network services,” said Dan Yost, executive vice president of product and marketing at Qwest. “Opening the newest facility in Seattle demonstrates Qwest’s continued success in the hosting arena and our ongoing commitment to providing the most comprehensive and secure solutions available.”
It’s interesting to see Qwest building additional data centers, as the company’s hosting unit experienced the full rollercoaster ride back in the dot-com boom. Qwest expanded vigorously, building 50,000 to 90,000 square foot Cybercenters in most major markets. At one time Qwest planned to build as many as 42 CyberCenters, funded partly by a $5 billion strategic alliance with IBM. But in late 2002 the company consolidated its network, shutting eight of its 16 data centers.
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Microsoft Drops Suit Over Records Request
December 12th, 2006 : Rich MillerMicrosoft has dropped a lawsuit against the city of Quincy, Wash. seeking to prevent the disclosure of public records the company filed concerning its huge new data center project in the town. Microsoft filed suit Nov. 30 seeking an injunction to block the city from complying with a public records request from an engineering firm seeking design and building plans Microsoft submitted for its data center. Microsoft dropped the lawsuit after the request was withdrawn.
Microsoft began construction in Quincy in May, and much has been written about the facility. But Microsoft contended that the documents sought through the information request contained “intricate details” of its building project, City Administrator Tim Snead told the Columbia Basin Herald. “We protect the proprietary information we have for our software, for our products and certainly for our facilities, where we’re doing some unique things,” Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos told the paper.
We’ve previously noted the desire of major corporations to maintain secrecy about their data center projects (see Wal-Mart and the Fight Club Rule for more on this). But is it possible to maintain secrecy about a facility and still comply with local ordinances that require companies to file detailed plans about new construction?
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Intuit Planning Data Center in Quincy, Wash.
November 9th, 2006 : Rich MillerFinancial software giant Intuit is planning to build a data center in Quincy, Wash., which would become the fourth major data center project in the small central Washington town. Intuit, which makes Quicken and Quickbooks software, appeared before the Quincy City Counil Tuesday night to discuss its plans.
Three other major facilities are already planned for the area, which has become magnet for power-hungry data centers due to the availability of cheap hydro electricity from local dams, as well as advanced fiber infrastructure. Microsft has announced plans for a huge data center complex in Quincy, while Yahoo and Sabey Corp. are starting projects in nearby Wenatchee.
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