Data centre provider QTS has announced that it has been registered as SafeHarbor compliant. Enforced by the US Federal Trade Commission and Department of Transportation, SafeHarbor assures that QTS adheres to the highest levels of privacy protection set by the European Union.

Atlanta-based T5 Data Centers is building its latest data centre project, T5@Dallas, at Legacy in Plano, a master-planned business, retail and residential park located in Plano, TX, a suburb of Dallas. T5 will develop the building in several phases delivering 3 MW of critical power in Phase 1 by June of 2012.

While business spending on all telecommunications services is expected to grow in single-digit percentages over the next six years, global spending on managed services is expected to grow at an annual compounded rate of 14.7% over the period, according to the latest market study from Insight Research.

Terremark has announced the completion of the expansion of its world-class data centre campus, the Network Access Point (NAP) West, located in Santa Clara, California. The newly expanded, state-of-the-art data centre campus now features a total of approximately 100,000 sq ft of raised floor space.

Equinix, a provider of global data centre services, has announced that Cable&Wireless Worldwide has strengthened its market reach to Hong Kong and Tokyo with Platform Equinix. By establishing network points-of-presence in Equinix’s Hong Kong and Tokyo International Business Exchange data centres, Cable&Wireless Worldwide can now directly offer its network services to multinational corporations in Asia Pacific.

SoftLayer Technologies has announced that the company continued to experience strong operational and top-line growth in the third quarter of 2011, reaching US$85 million in revenues while achieving US$34 million in EBITDA. The company also appointed David Strohm, from Greylock Partners, to its board of directors to help guide and support the company’s continued market leadership and financial growth.

French enterprise network and data centre operator Neo Telecoms and French data centre operator and hosting services provider Euclyde have announced pla­ns to open a Tier 3 data centre in Besancon in the first half of 2012. Besancon is situated in the east of France, towards its border with Switzerland.

Although the flood crisis might have damaged several businesses it has also created huge opportunities in some areas such as cloud computing and Internet data centre (IDC).  Two IDC service providers - True IDC and TCC Technology - have experienced rapid growth during the flood crisis and plan next year to make huge investments to expand their service capacity in order to serve the surge in demand.

Switch has announced it will begin construction of the Switch Las Vegas-North Campus. The new location will have over 300,000+ sq ft of data centre space to be located roughly 15 miles north of the Las Vegas Digital Exchange Campus (LVDEC) near the intersection of Cheyenne and Buffalo.  SwitchMOD, a modular, component-oriented, rapid-deployment data centre model developed exclusively by Switch, will comprise the build-out.

Zayo Group has announced it has completed its latest round of fund raising totalling US$315 million in a five-year term loan. The loan was marketed by RBC Capital Markets, Barclays Capital and SunTrust, and allocated to 25 institutional investors. Strong demand for this debt instrument led to upsizing the amount from an initially marketed US$295 million.

The funds will be used to complete the recently announced US$345M acquisition of 360networks. The remainder of the purchase price and transaction expenses will be funded with cash on hand.

Just seven months to the day from its groundbreaking in April, Sabey Data Centers has announced the completion of its first building at the 520,000 sq ft Intergate.Quincy campus in Quincy, Washington. The 139,000 sq ft structure’s modular design provides efficiency and scalability for users of virtually any size. At US$.0225/kWh, energy costs are the lowest in the nation.

Sabey has welcomed its first tenant and completed its tenant improvements. Construction of tenant improvements is also underway to ready other space for immediate occupancy.

HickoryTech has said that it has agreed to buy IdeaOne Telecom Group, a metro fibre network provider in Fargo, North Dakota, in an all-cash deal valued at US$28 million with routine adjustments for capital expenditures and working capital. IdeaOne provides data networking, Internet, colocation, phone and hosting services to about 3,600 business and residential customers in the Fargo area.

The Spanish telecom giant Telefónica has affirmed its commitment to the Czech Republic, stating that it does not intend to reduce its presence in the Central European country. Rumours had previously circulated that the group was planning to sell shares in its Czech O2 operations.

Google has said it will invest US$300 million in its Hong Kong data centre, due to come online in early 2013 after the company broke ground on Thursday.

The US$300 million investment includes the cost of land, construction and technical equipment, with the facility employing about 25 full-time staff when fully operational, Google said in a statement.

A private company which hoped to build a multi-million pound data centre in Shetland has gone back to the drawing board, but says it is still keen on doing business in the isles. Alchemy Plus held talks with Shetland Islands Council in April 2010 as part of research into what might have been a “state-of-the-art” £12 million computing resource housing 300 racks of
IT equipment. At the time Alchemy stated that it hoped to have the data farm up and running on the outskirts of Lerwick within 18 months.

The new agency created to modernize and manage the federal government’s aging information technology infrastructure will invest C$375 million over eight years to begin its ‘transformation’ of how departments operate, says its new chief operating officer.

Grant Westcott told MPs on a Commons committee Thursday the money will cover Shared Services Canada’s eight-year plan to consolidate the government’s 100 email systems into one, reduce 300 data centres across the country to 20, and undertake a “substantial” part of the work to consolidate the networks supporting those centres.

Fujitsu remained the Home Office's top supplier in 2010-11, with a 15% increase in the amount it received to £157m, according to figures released by the department in response to a freedom of information request from GGC. It paid the company's Alcedo subsidiary £133m during the year, while a further £24m went to Fujitsu Services itself. The company has the Sirius

The Gores Group, a Los Angeles based private equity firm, has announced it has completed the acquisition of fibre network and data centre operator Alpheus Communications, one of the largest fibre network and data centre operators in Texas, from Genesis Park and El Paso corporation. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Data centre operator Data Centers Canada has announced it has begun construction on expanding its Toronto North Data Center facility. Launched in February, the Phase 4 POD expansion will bring the Toronto North Facility to about 20,000 sq ft once it is completed.

Sentrum, a specialist in data centre solutions, has released findings from an independent research report which clearly shows that UK businesses are struggling to effectively plan their future data centre requirements.  The companies interviewed cited that their plans stay current, on average, for 2 years and 11 months before they need revising yet, for some 17%, pecifications were out of date within 12 months or less.  In contrast, just 19% were confident that plans remained current for 37 months or more, whilst 5% boasted that plans never need to be r

Tata Communications plans to turn its South African arm Neotel into a US$1-billion enterprise by expanding its footprint. The company aims to deliver a gamut of enterprise data services in countries near South Africa, and eventually expand into other markets across the continent, a top executive with direct knowledge of the matter told ET.

Phoenix NAP, a provider of premier data centre infrastructure-as-a-Service, has announced its expansion plans in the form of nodes throughout Europe, Asia and the United States in the upcoming year. The growth follows a successful 2011 in which the full service data centre launched Secured Cloud, an enterprise-grade cloud computing solution that utilizes a highly intuitive user interface to rapidly and easily create a public cloud virtual machine.

StrataScale, a premier provider of fast, easy and affordable cloud and hybrid hosting services, has announced that its new state-of-the-art 140,000 sq ft data centre facility in Ashburn, Virginia, will offer better service for its East Coast customers while providing additional capacity to support the company's rapidly expanding sales - which have been increasing more than 100% annually.

Google has announced the start of construction on its data centre in Singapore, its first in Southeast Asia. breaking ground on the new facility with some help from representatives of the Singapore government.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place at the 2.45 hectare site of the planned facility, located in Jurong West. Google is planning to complete construction in early 2013, barring major delays. Its investment in this facility will reach US$120 million (S$157 million).

Source: Asia One

The Prineville City Council voted unanimously last week to annex 160 acres of Crook County land where Apple is contemplating the construction of a large data centre. But tax concerns may delay a decision on the project, and the company is apparently considering sites elsewhere in the state, too.

North State Communications has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Winston Salem-based DataChambers, an information technology company that offers a full range of managed services and secure colocation facilities for mission-critical IT infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services has announced the launch of a new data centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a result, South American-based businesses and global companies with customers on the continent can now build on IT infrastructure and run applications via the AWS cloud computing platform.

The Home Office is to review the role of the Hendon Data Centre (HDC) as part of its reform programme for policing in the UK. Theresa May, the home secretary, has told parliament that the future viability of the centre is to be considered along with that of the Police Staff College at Bramshill House.

Telecoms giant BT has revealed the details of a £100m deal with the European Parliament, where it will provide networked IT and professional services. The five-year contract will service the European Parliament's three main sites in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, where 6,000 EU officials will be using the technology. The contract was divided into two frameworks, one focusing largely on networking infrastructure (worth approximately £70m) and the other on applications, integration and professional services (£30m).

Skýrr, the leading IT company in Iceland, has announced that it has bought Thor Data Center, a data centre situated just south of Reykjavík in Hafnafjordur. No price has been disclosed.

Online search and advertising giant Google is teaming with investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. to develop four solar energy farms serving the Sacramento Municipal Utility istrict in California. Google, has said on its Green Blog that it will spend UIS$94 million on the projects. They also will receive equity from SunTap Energy RE LLC, a venture formed by KKR to invest in U.S. solar projects.

Skanska has secured a contract to provide construction management services for a new data and operations centre for US$ 63 million, about SEK 410 million, for a confidential client in Pennsylvania. The order will be included in the bookings for USA Building for the fourth quarter 2011.

Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has struck a deal for more than US$1billion with Sabre Airline Solutions to upgrade its IT systems, the carrier has announced. The ten-year deal with Texas-based aviation computer technology provider Sabre Airline Solutions will result in the installation of integrated software across its reservations, inventory, marketing, planning, eCommerce,
distribution and departure control operations.

The new system will be implemented by February 2013 and will help to reduce the airline’s ongoing technology costs.

Source: Arabian Business

Perhaps inspired by the emerging data centres in Finland, Sweden and Iceland, Norwegian shipping and investment company Smedvig has teamed up with ErgoGroup, Norway’s largest provider of ICT services, to develop Green Mountain, a fjord-cooled data centre that is housed in a completely refurbished ammunition depot on Rennesøy, an island in southern Norway.

Japanese mobile carrier KDDI has announced that it will establish a data centre in Sendai, one of the areas hit the hardest by theearthquake and tsunami this past March.

OnX Enterprise Solutions, a leading global provider of enterprise data centre solutions, has announced the formal opening of its new U.S. headquarters in New York City. The new office is located in Penn Central Station and will serve as the hub of the company’s U.S. operations and a bridge to its increasing international activities.

On the back of a huge growth in the data centre space, Tata Communications is going for an ambitious five-year plan: to almost treble its capacity to one million sq ft from the current 400,000 sq ft.  Tata Communications  has already spent Rs 1,000 crore in the last three years -- to build the current capacity. This time around, though, it would not be spending as much, according to Srinivasa Addepalli, the senior vice-president (corporate strategy) of the telecommunications company.