May 17, 2004

"We continue to scour Dallas and other major market locations for prime data center space," says Lance Crosby, chief operating officer of The Planet.

Managed Web hosting provider The Planet Internet Services (theplanet.com) has signed a 10-year lease for new data center space at 400 S. Akard Street, a tier-one carrier hotel in downtown Dallas.

The facility is 21,000 square feet, of which 18,000 is raised floor for IT infrastructure. According to Lance Crosby, chief operating officer of The Planet, the company has added 50 new engineers in anticipation of the facility's opening, which he said houses up to 12,000 servers. Crosby said the company expects to reach capacity in approximately six to nine months.

"This facility is about half the space of our primary location, so it's a short-term solution, but we anticipate closing on another new deal in about 90 days", Crosby added.

The facility includes complete redundancy in power, HVAC, fire suppression, network connectivity and security. The company said it will offer its ServerMatrix (servermatrix.com) entry-level dedicated servers and the new enterprise Total Control Server line.

"The Planet's expansion in 400 S. Akard is evidence that growth opportunities persist for well-managed, focused hosting strategies," says Brandon Freeman, CEO of LayerOne and a partner in 400 S. Akard.

"Our third-floor data center, which is an $8 million state-of-the-art facility specifically designed to support mission-critical hosting operations, is ideal for accommodating The Planet's rapid growth."

Source: The WHIR