The new data center, which is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year, will be the Denver-based company’s 16th data center, giving it a raised floor footprint than 260,000 square feet of data center space in Texas, Nevada, Colorado, Utah and Oregon. The company has grown through acquisitions of Fortix and Dataside.

“We recently completed the acquisition of Dataside in March of 2008, and the construction of our sixth Dallas-area data center is a testament to our market value and momentum,” said Roy Dimoff, Chairman and CEO of ViaWest. “This latest facility speaks to the company’s strength in the industry, and with the caliber of employees and staff we have in every region, I am confident we can continue to drive aggressive growth, quarter after quarter.”

In addition to the six Dallas-area data centers, ViaWest’s national footprint also includes four enterprise-class data centers in Denver, two in Salt Lake City, as well as one in Austin, Provo, Las Vegas, and Portland, Oregon.

ViaWest becomes the latest Infomart tenant to expand its operations at the distinctive 1.2 million square foot carrier hotel in Dallas. Other data center providers who have expanded within the Infomart include Softlayer, Architel and Switch & Data. The building, which is owned by DCI Technology Holdings, is among the beneficiaries of strong demand for Dallas data center space.

With the Dataside acquisition, ViaWest’s annualized revenue will exceed $100 million by the fourth quarter of 2008, the company said. ViaWest will immediately invest in the expansion of Dataside’s existing facilities in Austin, Dallas, and Las Vegas to meet the increasing demand for data center space in those markets, and will introduce additional managed services for Dataside customers.

“ViaWest has become a market leader in Colorado, Utah and Oregon by providing a wide range of mid-sized businesses with unparalleled support in addition to network, facility and solution sets that are second-to-none,” said Roy Dimoff, Chairman and CEO of ViaWest. “Likewise, Dataside has built a tremendous reputation servicing mid-size and Fortune 1000 companies’ infrastructure space needs. We could not be more enthusiastic with the scale and market opportunities that this acquisition provides.”

“ViaWest and Dataside is a perfect marriage as both companies have similar success stories and a well- earned reputation for the highest quality of customer service,” said James deVenny, President and CEO, Dataside. “We are very proud of what we created at Dataside, and we are extremely excited about the opportunities that the combined companies present.”

Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo Foothill provided debt financing for ViaWest, and Goldman Sachs, Quilvest and ViaWest’s existing investor group (led by Cowen Capital Partners) provided additional equity capital.

Dataside was originally called Collocation Solutions, and has focused its growth in the booming Dallas market, building into expansion space within the Infomart carrier hotel at 1950 Stemmons. In October 2007 Dataside announced $24.5 million in debt financing from Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund, which is managed by the private equity firm Fortress Investment Group. In December it was reported that Dataside was in talks to be acquired.

ViaWest has expanded aggressively in recent years with its purchase of Oregon’s Fortix in 2006 and an expansion in Salt Lake City in 2007. The company has reported strong demand in its key markets.

ViaWest, which is based in Denver and also has a facility in Portland, Oregon, says it will be expanding its entire data center capacity by more than 60 percent in 2007. A large percentage of the expansion efforts will focus on Salt Lake City, where ViaWest now has more than 200 customers, having just added online automative portal Vehix.com to its growing portfolio.

“A growing number of businesses in Salt Lake City, including Vehix.com, have realized the need to work with an organization that has a local presence and can offer a comprehensive solution for their growing data requirements,” said Roy Dimoff, CEO and co-founder, ViaWest. “The addition of the new Tier 1 data center in Salt Lake City reflects our continued effort to make investments in state-of-the-art data centers that provide the highest levels of managed hosting and colocation services.”

Vehix.com is one of the most trafficked automotive resource web sites, with more than 1,500 auto dealers in over 60 markets providing online inventory of new and used vehicles.

“Vehix.com has continued to see an increase in demand for its online services,” said Mike van Thiel, Vehix.com CTO. “To ensure we effectively support this growing demand, we needed to work with an organization that could provide a long-term, scalable solution to support our anticipated growth. We felt it was important to work with an organization that has a presence in Salt Lake City, so after careful evaluation, ViaWest became the clear choice based on its locations, unique service offerings, high-quality service, industry expertise and 24×7 onsite management.”

ViaWest said its 2006 revenue was up 53 percent from 2005, with the majority of that growth driven by new customers. “We have watched demand for managed hosting and colocation services steadily increase, particularly among small and mid-size businesses, as companies realize the need to invest in reliable secure hosting, on-demand support and data recovery options,” said Roy Dimoff, CEO and co-founder of ViaWest.

“This heightened demand helped ViaWest outperform our 2006 growth targets,” Dimoff added. “Last year, we expanded into Portland by purchasing a Tier-1 datacenter, signed more than 100 new customers and realized a 56 percent increase in revenue for colocation and hosting services in Colorado. Looking ahead to 2007, we are on track to further accelerate our success both organically and through additional expansion opportunities in new markets.”

ViaWest said its expansion is driven by opportunities, rather than weakness in its core Colorado market. In 2006, ViaWest grew its revenue in Colorado for colocation and managed hosting services by 56 percent over 2005, the company said. Demand from customers in Colorado opting for additional services increased by 100 percent.

ViaWest said it is benefiting from the national growth trend for managed hosting and colocation services. According to a recent study by IDC, a leading analyst firm, the U.S. Web hosting services market was $6.9 billion in 2005, and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent over the next five years, reaching $14.5 billion in 2010.

That leaves $18 million, which the company says is “earmarked for additional expansion and acquisition opportunities that strategically align with ViaWest’s business in its three existing geographic markets or helping the company expand into yet a fourth market.” ViaWest has data centers in Denver and Salt Lake City in addition to its newly-acquired facility in Portland.

“ViaWest has successfully completed 16 acquisitions since 1999,” said Roy Dimoff, chairman and CEO, ViaWest. “We are confident in our expansion plans including identifying additional, strategic acquisition targets similar to Fortix that will allow us to enter additional major markets and expand our footprint across the U.S.”

“Securing this level of financing is a show of market confidence not only in our management team but in our ability to execute against our strategic growth plan,” said Mike Kzra, senior vice president of finance for ViaWest.

“ViaWest is market dominant in Colorado and Utah and has been successfully servicing mid-sized companies since 1999,” said Roy Dimoff, chairman and CEO, ViaWest. “There are many synergies between the two companies that make this a strategic fit, including the fact that Fortix also has been working with mid-sized businesses in Oregon for more than seven years. The addition of the Fortix team, its data center facility, customers and first-rate reputation allows ViaWest to become a significant force in a third major market.”

Fortix customers will have access to ViaWest’s services, including the toption of using data centers in Utah and Colorado for out-of-region disaster recovery backups. Additionally, ViaWest expects the acquisition to expand development capacity, helping set the stage for bringing new product and services to market more rapidly.

“ViaWest is exactly the type of company with which Fortix wants to be associated,” said Gerald Hagan, CEO, Fortix. “ViaWest has the same philosophy and approach to the market as we do, and similar to Fortix, a consistent reputation for providing exceptional customer service.”