To meet the growing demand from customers, network-neutral data center and Internet exchange services provider Switch and Data is reportedly expanding its data center capacity in Atlanta with a new site at 180 Peachtree Street.

The company reportedly signed a 15-year lease for the facility in September 2008. According to a press release, the data center is located in a well interconnected building which is already being used for data center operations.

The expansion will add more than 79,000 gross square feet to Switch and Data’s (News - Alert) Atlanta Metro data center capacity, bringing total gross square feet to 106,000 in this market.

According to the company, the new data center will be built out in phases. Phase one will provide 500 cabinet equivalents of capacity and is expected to be open for customers in the third quarter of 2010. The site will yield a total of 1,450 cabinet equivalents when all phases are complete.

The site will be built to the Tier III Uptime Institutes’ standards, including full N+1 redundancy for the UPS, generator and cooling infrastructures. The new data center will have 24x7 security and remote technical support.

"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," said Ernie Sampera (News - Alert), senior vice president and CMO for Switch and Data, in a release. "Our Atlanta market expansion builds on

our plan to help our customers accelerate their Internet-centric businesses with high performance and availability."

 

The company’s PAIX Internet exchange service will be available from the Atlanta site. PAIX pioneered commercial Internet exchange and provides a simple

and cost effective way for Internet service providers (ISPs), telecommunications companies, and content providers to peer their IP traffic to enhance performance and reduce cost.

Switch and Data will offer distributed peering between its Atlanta Metro Area locations to maximize its customers' opportunities to reach important networks, partners and customers.

Last month, Equinix, Inc., a provider of global data center services, reportedly signed a definitive agreement to acquire Switch & Data in a transaction valued at approximately $689 million.