Nortia Research

a 8/18/2009 04:09:00 AM

Sometimes getting confused with simple questions: how many partner sites at Internap?

Sites

Internap® Data Center locations are strategically located throughout the world, with nearly 60 domestic and international locations in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia. Our extensive network of owned and partner facilities offer access to millions of square feet of colocation and rich media storage space.

Click on the map or on the city links below for specific information about each location.

58 locations. Their own words. Osaka and Mumbai are missing from the list.

From the latest 10Q, however:

Data Center Services

We use a combination of facilities that we manage and facilities managed by third parties, referred to as partner sites. We offer a comprehensive solution at 48 service points, including nine locations that we manage and 39 locations managed by third parties.

From the latest 10K (click to enlarge):

Mumbai and Osaka mentioned.

from the latest supplementary data:

a 8/18/2009 01:23:00 AM

I’d like to add my comments to Rob’s article “So the recession is indeed punishing CDNs.” After all these companies, both pure plays and telecoms, reported 2Q results and issued weak guidance for Q3, it’s quite clear that the sector is experiencing little to no revenue growth and expecting this trend to last in the close future.

Dan Rayburn is taking a longer time frame approach in his article: “The Future of the CDN Market”, to see what this can mean for the whole sector:

As we look to what the CDN market will be like 12 months from now, it’s clear that many vendors won’t be able to sustain themselves. The fact is, the CDN industry has been through this cycle before. In 2000, about 50 CDNs of all shapes and sizes existed. Two years later, in 2002, there were only about a dozen CDNs; in 2004, that number was only five or six.
link to the article available at Telecom Rumblings...

a 8/17/2009 02:22:00 PM

from the IV MB, by yyy60:

>>New Research Shows Effectiveness of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Spinal Tumors

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-17-2009/0005078629&EDATE=

MIAMI, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a highly effective alternative treatment for some cancer patients with spinal metastases, reported in new research from The University of Texas in Houston, according to James G. Schwade, M.D. Executive Director of the CyberKnife Centers of Miami and Palm Beach.

(www.cyberknifemiami.com)

"This data confirms the established method of cancer treatment used on spinal tumors and other hard to reach areas of the body, due to the precisely targeted radiation dose and non-invasive nature of radiosurgery," said Dr. Schwade.

The study was presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting in San Diego.

"SBRT offers patients a minimally invasive treatment option they previously did not have," said Dr. Eric L. Chang. "We are also able to offer patients a degree of pain control and to decrease their pain medications, minimizing the side effects from those medications."

In the study, researchers evaluated 121 cancer patients with metastases to the spine who underwent intensity-modulated, near simultaneous, CT image-guided SBRT, said Dr. Chang.

Researchers used a stereotactic body frame system consisting of a whole-body vacuum cushion and plastic fixation sheet used to immobilize patients for the treatment period, which lasts approximately one hour.

The team performed MR imaging of the spine within 30 days of patient enrollment, every three months for the first year and every six months after that. Patients also evaluated their own pain and other discomfort using instruments including the validated Brief Pain Inventory and the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory.

The CyberKnife Centers of Miami and Palm Beach serve the Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade County areas with outpatient facilities treating cancer patients with stereotactic radiosurgery utilizing the CyberKnife. For more information please visit http://www.morsecyberknife.com or http://www.ca123.com.

a 8/17/2009 11:06:00 AM

Peter M. Evans

Sr. Vice President of Marketing

Peter M. Evans leads the Company's Marketing activities. He has extensive experience in product marketing, international product launches, corporate re-positioning, channel/alliances, marketing communications, general management and investor relations.

Prior to joining Internap, Mr. Evans served as Director of Technology and Market Strategy for IBM's Internet Security Systems Division, Chief Technology Office. Mr. Evans was the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Internet Security Systems (ISS) prior to it being acquired by IBM for $1.3 billion. His leadership role there -- turning ISS into a more market-driven organization -- was a key part of the company's evolution and substantial growth.

He also has experience building sales, customer support and product mix strategies aimed at addressing emerging market opportunities. While with Nortel Networks, he led the startup of the long distance voice switching and Voice over IP (VoIP) switching business, the data sales organization in the southeast, as well as the launch of several other major networking data products. Mr. Evans has also held senior positions with AirDefense, Optovation Corp. and ONI Systems (acquired by Ciena Corp. for $1.1B).

Mr. Evans holds undergraduate degrees in applied mathematics and computer sciences from Queen's University, Ontario, Canada, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from York University, Toronto.

a 8/16/2009 02:50:00 PM

from the IV MB, by yyy60:

>>new cyberknife center open in Flushing NY on Aug 15

** Ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Aug 15 for the new Cyberknife Center in Flushing NY. This is the 5th CK in NY. Another new CK center -The Cyberknife of Long Island (the 6th in NY) will open in Sep. **

Flushing CK Center

http://www.flushingros.com/index.cfm

http://174.132.121.114:82/gate/big5/www.sinovision.net/index.php?module=news&act=details&col_id=498&news_id=98257

Long Island CK Center

http://www.cancer-radiation.com/index.php/cyberknife

a 8/16/2009 02:25:00 AM

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/?article_id=1776

a 8/13/2009 04:38:00 PM

from telephonyonline.com:

>>Telecom carriers are beginning to radically shake up the market for content delivery networking (CDN) now crowded with standalone players, according to Yankee Group senior analyst David Vorhaus, who predicts the current pricing pressure in the CDN sector will accelerate carrier participation in the space, either through acquisitions or partnerships they may or may not be preludes to acquisition.

...

In a recent assessment of CDN players, the Yankee Group already ranked AT&T (NYSE: T) and Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in terms of the quality of their offerings. But in talking about carrier participation in the CDN space today, Vorhaus said, “What we’ve seen thus far is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Carriers are inexorably moving into the CDN space not just because it’s becoming an increasingly vital part of their business but because they have certain innate competitive advantages there. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Level 3 executives, while reporting pricing pressure in their CDN business, argued that it will be remedied eventually by the cost structure they enjoy as a carrier. Jim Crowe, the company’s chief executive officer, emphasized the advantage that carriers wield over standalone CDNs simply by owning their own underlying transport infrastructure. “Over time, if you're not a carrier with your own low-cost source of bandwidth, you're going to end up as a reseller,” Crowe said. “Resellers can grow to a certain size, but then because they don't control such a large portion of their cost, they get squeezed.”

Vorhaus agreed in general that CDNs have already begun to squeeze. CDN market leader Akamai Technologies has significantly dropped its typically premium prices lately for existing big-name customers, something Crowe hinted at in the earnings call as a tactic of incumbents trying to keep their market share. And Akamai’s biggest competitor, Limelight Technologies, which reported sequentially flat second-quarter revenue, is expecting third-quarter revenue to be sequentially flat as well.

a 8/13/2009 11:03:00 AM

excluding names and common words (quarter, etc.). More talk about growth than churn. CDN was said 58 times (and Vitalstream three times). Every one minute, CDN was mentioned...

a 8/13/2009 06:04:00 AM

excluding names and common words (quarter, etc.). More talk about churn than growth.

a 8/13/2009 05:45:00 AM

not an Immersion partner, however a confirmation haptic is becoming a "must have":

SUNNYVALE, CA—July 30, 2009—Maxim Integrated Products (NASDAQ: MXIM) introduces the MAX11810* and MAX11811*, the first touch-interface systems with integrated 4-wire touch-screen controllers, haptic controller drivers, and infrared-based proximity sensing. Designed for applications flexibility, these devices can drive a DC motor directly or piezo elements using an external piezo driver. The MAX11800 and MAX11801 are register-map-compatible versions without haptic controller drivers and proximity sensing.

Through simple register programming, the MAX11810/MAX11811 generates greater than 50,000 different haptic patterns with a built-in haptic waveform generator. Programmable registers eliminate the need for a dedicated interface on the application processor or system microcontroller. This programmability simplifies the addition of haptic feedback to any end equipment with a touch screen.

Ideal applications include cell phones, MP3 players, portable media players, digital photo frames, multifunction printers, point-of-sale and financial terminals, bar code-scanners, card readers, and other industrial equipment. Automotive-qualified part versions exist for use in car GPS, entertainment head units, and rear-seat entertainment systems.

Traditional Haptic Feedback System

The current market solution for haptic feedback using motors requires the application processor/system microcontroller to drive the motor. The applications processor/microcontroller needs to generate the haptic waveforms and send them to the motor through a dedicated interface. This adds latency and engages the application processor/microcontroller continuously, not allowing it to perform other duties.

Simplified Haptic Feedback System

The MAX11810/MAX11811 has a built-in waveform generator that creates the various haptic patterns and provides a direct interface to the motors. This approach eliminates the need for a dedicated interface on the application processor/microcontroller. With an integrated H-bridge driver, the MAX11810/MAX11811 eliminates the need for an external amplifier when haptic feedback is implemented using a DC motor. Alternatively, if piezo elements are used to implement haptics, the MAX11810/MAX11811's haptic-feedback output drives an external high-voltage amplification circuit to which the piezo actuators are connected.

Automatic Validation of Touch Responses Reduces Data Transfer and Saves Power

Unlike existing touch-screen controllers, the MAX11810/MAX11811 and MAX11800/MAX11801 reduce system power by offering additional, digital, on-chip processing to validate touch events before they are sent to the application processor. This automatic validation reduces interrupt servicing of false or redundant touch events and lowers total system power. This capability is crucial for battery-powered end equipment.

The MAX11800/MAX11801 and MAX11810/MAX11811 support a built in dynamic aperture feature (position hysteresis) and on-chip FIFO. This automatic function reduces latency in the touch response and unnecessary data transfer between the devices and application processor or microcontroller.

Two other touch-screen controllers are part of this device family, the MAX11802/MAX11803. These devices are register-map-compatible versions of the MAX11800/01 but without the position hysteresis and on-chip FIFO. MAX11802/11803 provides standard resistive, touch-screen controller functionality.

Available in high-speed (25MHz) SPI™ and fast (400kHz) I²C versions, all these devices guarantee compatibility with virtually any system or application processor. A wide, 1.7V to 3.6V, single-supply operating range eliminates the need for external supply-voltage regulators and level translators on the data bus. The parts are offered in extended temperature range (-40°C to +85°C). A variant up to +105°C is currently being qualified for use in automotive applications.

The MAX11800–MAX11803 are available in 1.6mm x 2.1mm, 12-pin TQFN and 12-pin WLP packages. The MAX11810/MAX11811 are available in 2.1mm x 2.1mm, 20-pin TQFN and 16-pin WLP packages. These small package footprints facilitate the miniaturization of end equipment. To speed design-in, EV (evaluation) kits are available. To enable full system emulation, the EV kits come with a resistive touch panel. The EV kits for the MAX11810/MAX11811 add a DC motor for evaluating the tactile feedback capability of these devices. The recommended price for the MAX11810 is $1.81 (1000-up, FOB, USA) and $1.76 (1000-up, FOB, USA) for the MAX11811. The recommended prices for the other devices in this controller family are: MAX11800, $1.51 (1000-up, FOB, USA); MAX11801, $1.46 (1000-up, FOB, USA); MAX11802, $1.31 (1000-up, FOB, USA); and MAX11803, $1.26 (1000-up, FOB, USA). All part versions are available now. Please contact the factory for ordering and sampling information. For further information please visit www.maxim-ic.com/Touch-Screen-Controllers (MAX11800-MAX11803) and www.maxim-ic.com/Haptics (MAX11810/MAX11811).

Maxim Integrated Products is a publicly traded company that designs, manufactures, and sells high-performance semiconductor products. The Company reported revenue in excess of $2 billion for fiscal 2008. Maxim was founded over 25 years ago with the mission to deliver innovative analog and mixed-signal engineering solutions that add value to its customers' products. To date, it has developed over 6000 products serving the industrial, communications, consumer, and computing markets. For more information, go to www.maxim-ic.com.

http://www.maxim-ic.com/view_press_release.cfm/release_id/1605#hires

a 8/12/2009 09:14:00 AM

Netriplex, LLC today announced plans to extend its high-capacity fiber connectivity from its Asheville, NC, datacenter to the Washington, DC, area and the Northeast United States. The initial phase of this expansion will be a leased OC-192 optical fiber circuit to the network-neutral Equinix facility in Ashburn, Virginia with peering to hundreds of major transit providers.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) August 12, 2009 -- Netriplex, LLC (http://www.netriplex.com) today announced plans to extend its high-capacity fiber connectivity from its Asheville, NC, datacenter to the Washington, DC, area and the Northeast United States. The initial phase of this expansion will be a leased OC-192 optical fiber circuit to the network-neutral Equinix facility in Ashburn, Virginia with peering to hundreds of major transit providers.

a 8/12/2009 06:18:00 AM

United States Patent	7,573,461
Rosenberg	August 11, 2009

Physically realistic computer simulation of medical procedures

Abstract

An apparatus for interfacing the movement of a shaft with a computer includes a support, a gimbal mechanism having two degrees of freedom, and three electromechanical transducers. When a shaft is engaged with the gimbal mechanism, it can move with three degrees of freedom in a spherical coordinate space, where each degree of freedom is sensed by one of the three transducers. A fourth transducer can be used to sense rotation of the shaft around an axis.

Inventors:	Rosenberg; Louis B. (Mountain View, CA)
Assignee:	*Immersion* Corporation (San Jose, CA)
Appl. No.:	11/725,958
Filed:	March 19, 2007

a 8/12/2009 05:58:00 AM

from Reuters:

>>Smartphone boom eases handset sales pain -Gartner

* Handset sales down 6 pct yr/yr in Q2, vs 9 pct fall in Q1

* Research firm says phone demand stabilising

* Smartphone sales grew 27 pct year-on-year in Q2

* Nokia Q2 smartphone market share 45 pct, vs 41.2 pct in Q1

HELSINKI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Global cellphone sales continued to fall in April-June, but at a slower pace than in the previous three months as falling prices boosted demand for advanced smartphones, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

NOKIA, APPLE WIN SMARTPHONE SHARE

Bucking the slowdown in the wider market, smartphone sales grew 27 percent year-on-year in the quarter, boosted by cheaply priced phones like Nokia's first touch-screen model, the 5800, which make advanced functions available at a 200-300 euro price range.

Gartner said top handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) increased its smartphone market share -- a major issue for investors -- to 45 percent, boosted by demand for its cheaper models after its flagship high-end N97 smartphone met with little enthusiasm.

Nokia shipped just 500,000 N97s in June, compared to Apple's iPhone 3G S, which sold 1 million units in its first weekend in the same month, Gartner said.

a 8/11/2009 04:57:00 PM

AccuStream Research: CDN Account Growth at 23.3% in 2009, Revenue up by 16.4%

SALINAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) are achieving another year of double-digit growth in 2009, writing new contracts at a 23.3% pace above 2008, powering top line revenue forecasts up 16.4% to $1.37 billion across the segment.

The U.S. market currently generates an estimated 55.8% of the global CDN total, though international traffic is now increasing at a faster rate than its domestic counterpart, according to an industry report by AccuStream Research.

The report, CDN 2010: Revenue, R & D, Cap Ex and Operational Analytics provides comprehensive market performance metrics for each CDN, including MRR, total accounts, revenue, servers, cap ex, R & D initiatives, share of and penetration into video content verticals (pro video views by site and category), video advertising, Internet radio and UGV.

...

Of the 22.5 billion professional video views served in 2009, Akamai delivered 31.9%, Limelight Networks 12% and Level 3 11.2%.

a 8/11/2009 01:44:00 AM

Panasonic, NEC unveil 9 new Linux phones

* KDDI, Immersion join wireless Linux group LiMo

* LiMo still lacks support from top telephone makers

HELSINKI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp (6752.T) and NEC Corp (6701.T) unveiled nine new cellphone models on Tuesday that run the open-source LiMo operating system, wireless Linux group LiMo said.

...

LiMo also said Japanese mobile carrier KDDI Corp (9433.T) and touch screen company Immersion Corp (IMMR.O) had joined the not-for-profit foundation. But LiMo has been missing support from the largest cellphone vendors. So far smaller phone makers NEC, Panasonic and Motorola Inc (MOT.N) have unveiled in total 42 phones using its software. At the same time, all the top handset vendors, except Nokia, have promised to produce phone models running Android software.

The world's second- and third-largest cellphone vendors, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and LG Electronics Inc(066570.KS), are members of LiMo, but have not unveiled commercial models.

LiMo hopes to benefit from its focus on giving greater say over software development to telecommunications operators. Its key members -- Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L), France Telecom SA's (FTE.PA) Orange, Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T), South Korea's SK Telecom Co Ltd (017670.KS), Telefonica SA (TEF.MC) and U.S. operator Verizon Wireless, a venture between Verizon Communications In (VZ.N) and Vodafone -- have pledged to introduce LiMo phones in 2009.

from Reuters

a 8/10/2009 06:07:00 PM

NOTIFICATION OF LATE FILING

Immersion Corporation (“ Immersion ”) is unable to timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009 (the “ Form 10-Q ”) by the prescribed due date due to the fact that the previously announced Audit Committee internal investigation has not yet been completed, which has delayed the completion of the financial statements for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009 and related disclosures.

The Form 10-Q will not be filed on or before the fifth calendar day following the prescribed due date. Although Immersion cannot at this time estimate when it will be in a position to file its Form 10-Q, it is diligently pursuing these matters and intends to make the filing as soon as reasonably practicable after the conclusion of the investigation and analysis.

---

Item 4.02. Non-Reliance on Previously Issued Financial Statements or a Related Audit Report or Completed Interim Review.

On August 10, 2009, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Immersion Corporation (“Immersion”), after consultation with management concluded that its previously issued consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2008 and auditor’s report thereon, and previously issued unaudited financial statements as of and for the periods ended March 31, 2009, December 31, 2008, September 30, 2008, June 30, 2008 and March 31, 2008, should no longer be relied upon because of one or more errors in such financial statements.

This determination was based on the ongoing previously announced investigation, undertaken by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, of certain revenue transactions in Immersion’s Medical line of business for which accounting errors have been identified. Immersion is currently neither in a position to fully quantify the restatement adjustments nor in a position to determine the magnitude of revenue and accounts receivable overstatements during the above periods; however, the correction of these errors would affect the amount and timing of revenue recognized for the respective periods. The resulting changes will require restatement of Immersion’s financial statements for such periods. While Immersion will not be able to evaluate the full impact of the aforementioned matters until the investigation and analysis are completed, Immersion does not currently anticipate any changes to its cash flows from operations for these periods or the results of its Touch line or other historic lines of business. Similarly, related press releases, annual report and stockholder communications describing Immersion’s financial statements for these periods should no longer be relied upon.

Immersion has also discussed this matter with its independent registered public account Deloitte & Touche LLP.

Although Immersion cannot at this time estimate when it will be in a position to file its restated financial statements and its Second Quarter 2009 Form 10-Q, it is diligently pursuing these matters and intends to make the filing as soon as reasonably practicable after the conclusion of the investigation and analysis.

As a result of these matters, Immersion is also in the process of reassessing the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting.

a 8/10/2009 03:32:00 AM

Internap (INAP) reported 2Q 2009 results on August, 5.

A few highlights worth reporting:

Revenues were slightly above expectation ($64.4 million), and Internap succeeded in showing a small sequential and Y/Y increase, driven by strength in colocation services;
the Company revised its segment reporting, with CDN services now part of IP Services (and managed servers, about 25% of revenues, allocated to the Colo segment);
due to this new, simplified approach, Internap took another restructuring charge of $55.6 million primarily attributable to CDN (after a roughly $100 million one taken a few quarters ago – now almost ¾ of the acquisition cost of Vitalstream has been written off);
the Company announced a $50 million expansion plan for more Company owned data centers, to be executed in the following 18 months.

As Rob Powell noted at Telecom Rumblings, finally a realistic approach to CDN:

Internap will now be reporting revenue for only the IP and colocation segments, absorbing the CDN activities and no longer treating them independently. That doesn’t mean that the company is abandoning the CDN market entirely, but it does strongly imply a change in focus away from that market. In other words, Internap probably isn’t going to be a major CDN player any time soon and certainly wishes the Vitalstream acquisition never happened.

The Company itself is quite skeptical about the possibility to grow the IP services segment in the close future, as it is explained in its latest 10Q (emphasis added):

IP services revenue decreased 7% over the same period last year. The rate of total revenue growth in the quarter was impacted due to higher customer churn, particularly in our data center services segment. Our IP services revenue continues to be more affected by pricing pressure and the ongoing negative economic conditions.
IP traffic increased approximately 27% from the three months ended June 30, 2008 to the three months ended June 30, 2009. The increase in IP traffic resulted from customers requiring greater overall capacity due to growth in the usage of their applications, as well as in the nature of applications consuming greater amounts of bandwidth. However, as we focus on more profitable growth in IP services, we do not expect to see significant growth in total IP services revenue in the near future.

Given the general scenario described by Internap, the announcement of further expansion of Company-controlled data centers seems the most interesting development to analyze.

About five months ago, we wrote an article about Internap and the previous $40 million investment, announced in June 2007, and executed mainly in 2008, to increase Company-owned data centers: InterNAP's Colocation Expansion: Better Late than Never?

To cut a long story short, we noticed that the expansion plan took about 7 quarters to be completed, rather than the 3 to 4 quarters forecasted. At that time, we were inclined to blame bad execution for the delay.

This time, Internap is giving itself 6 quarters to grow its data center presence in key markets – which, by the way, have not been announced.

A closer look at some numbers, and a quick Q/Q comparison - quotes from Seeking Alpha conference call transcripts, emphasis added:

1Q 2009 conference call
George Kilguss - CFO
Since the first quarter of 2008, the company has deployed 40,000 of company-controlled build-outs square footage and 17,000 square feet in partner sites. Historically, approximately 80% of company-controlled and 90% of partner sites build-out space is available to sale to customers.
In the first quarter, off the 99,000 square feet of build-out space at partner sites, 86,000 was occupied. In company-controlled sites 87,000 square feet was occupied compared with 144,000 square feet build-out. Our Boston and Seattle markets have been among our strongest company-controlled facilities from the demand perspective.

2Q 2009 conference call
George Kilguss
So, in our partner data centers, in the second quarter, we had approximately 106,000 built out square feet, of which 90,000 square feet was occupied and our company controlled data centers we had approximately 144,000 square feet of built out and about 86,000 occupied.

(you may click on the image for a larger picture)

Occupation in Company controlled data centers is actually decreasing, even if slightly. High churn is generally blamed for this poor result:

Eric Cooney - CEO
Data center services revenue increased 17% over the second quarter of 2008. Our data center expansions and increased occupancy along with stable pricing benefited revenue growth and offset significant churn from a couple of large customers during the quarter.
George Kilguss
Higher churn experienced in our data center services segment was the primary driver of the total increase, which I’ll provide some additional comments on in a moment.
While new revenue in this segment remained solid, we experienced higher data center revenue churn in the quarter. Data center churn totaled 2.9% in the quarter up from 1.3% a year ago. We had several customers consolidate their data center footprint in the second quarter as the economy impacted end user demand.

It's also interesting that margins are decreasing Q/Q in this segment – having all the fixed costs of the new centers without growing occupancy/revenues doesn't certainly help improving this metric. It has to be reminded that Internap is generally experiencing lower margins than the other pure players in the colocation sector, also because it's using partner sites in many key locations.

George Kilguss
Data center services segment gross margin as the second quarter, were 25.1%, down 150 basis points both compared with the first quarter and the same period last year as the initial addition of square footage increased expense during the quarter without an associated increase in data center revenue.

A look at a larger time frame confirms that Internap is actually growing faster in partner sites, and adding occupancy in its own data centers quite slowly (data from conference calls or Company filings - click to enlarge):

While adding about 40.000 sq.ft. of Company-controlled data center in 2008/beginning 2009, Internap has been able to fill up only 5.350 sq.ft. in one year - and partner sites are growing at a much faster pace, in the same time frame (almost twice as much, 9.500 sq.ft.).

We obviously hope that the Company enjoys a very strong pipeline, and these numbers do not reflect its trend for the future, as it might not justify adding another 50,000 sq.ft. of data center space. It must be noted that management has announced its intention to reduce the number of partner sites and consolidate customers in its own center, but we remain skeptical this strategy will work in all cases (location is very important in this business, and Internap does not cover the major Tier 1 markets. We also believe some customers will not move out of, say, Equinix (EQIX) easily and will probably opt for trying to stay in the same data center while continuing to buy Internap's IP services).

We should also remember that Internap recently suffered a 28 hour outage in its Seattle data center, that certainly upset many of its customers. This event will both cost the Company money in refunds due to customers, and might also lead to a higher that expected churn in that specific location, even if, luckily, Internap can offer an alternative data center in the same market.

Internap itself is describing the situation as follows (from Techflash.com):

Earlier this week, Internap told tenants that the plan is to build a new switchgear room. Internap said Fisher Plaza officials believed it would be "several months" before a permanent solution is in place.

Bottom line, unless the Company starts executing better, showing higher occupancy rates in its own centers, we feel that this announcement is more a distraction to investors that a sign of a real growth driver for Internap going forward.

a 8/09/2009 11:37:00 AM

data from conference calls or Company filings:

(click to enlarge)

While adding about 40.000 sq.ft. of Company-controlled data center in 2008, Internap has been able to fill up only 5.350 sq.ft. - and partner sites are growing at a much faster pace, in the same time frame (almost twice as much, 9.500 sq.ft.).

a 8/09/2009 10:35:00 AM

Internap has just announced (without any detail on the locations...) its intention to invest an additional $ 50 million in its own Company-controlled data centers.

A quick look at a Q/Q comparison - quotes from Seeking Alpha conference call transcripts, emphasis added:

1Q 2009 conference call
George Kilguss - CFO
Since the first quarter of 2008, the company has deployed 40,000 of company-controlled build-outs square footage and 17,000 square feet in partner sites. Historically, approximately 80% of company-controlled and 90% of partner sites build-out space is available to sale to customers.
In the first quarter, off the 99,000 square feet of build-out space at partner sites, 86,000 was occupied. In company-controlled sites 87,000 square feet was occupied compared with 144,000 square feet build-out. Our Boston and Seattle markets have been among our strongest company-controlled facilities from the demand perspective.

2Q 2009 conference call
George Kilguss
So, in our partner data centers, in the second quarter, we had approximately 106,000 built out square feet, of which 90,000 square feet was occupied and our company controlled data centers we had approximately 144,000 square feet of built out and about 86,000 occupied.

(you may click on the image for a larger picture)

a 8/08/2009 12:30:00 PM

Ms. Kendra Borrego, Interim Head of Finance

Ms. Borrego joined Immersion in August of 2009 as Interim head of finance. Prior to Immersion, Kendra served as chief financial officer of VoiceObjects where she provided financial leadership in successfully converting a software company based in Germany to a US led business, while guiding continuing operations in the EMEA region. In this position, she oversaw all controller functions as well as human resources, legal affairs, IT, facility management, investor reporting, and bank relationships. Earlier in her career, Borrego was chief financial officer for IMPAC Medical Systems where she led the finance and administrative team from initial public offering through several acquisitions, through revenue growth to $100 M, and successfully sold the company at a $250M valuation. Borrego holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Nevada, Reno and an M.B.A. from San Jose State University.

from Linkedin:

Kendra Borrego has accepted a new Interim CFO position for the next few months, but is still looking for an exciting permanent CFO position. - 1 day ago

a 8/08/2009 06:33:00 AM

various twitter sources...

neilschelly Internap BSN is back online and my servers never went down. They were certainly inaccessible, but uptimes indicate they never lost power.

maractwin #internap boston appears to be back online

n1zyy And just like that, Internap in Somerville (BSN) is back online.

rustyszurek #Internap response - At this time we are investigating a connectivity outage to the BSN and BSN003 faclities.

westher @librarythingtim I'm not really a techie, does #internap explain why I can't get to any LT servers?

maractwin Waiting for #internap in Boston to come back online. I've got a dozen servers that are dark.

n1zyy @johndalton: "InternapNap" -- finding that way too funny as I sit here twiddling my thumbs waiting for Internap to come back online.

hndalton Finally received email confirming a total #internap #outage in Boston. #internapnap

neilschelly I just got confirmation (took awhile on the phone) that Internap BSN is down and has no idea when power will be back or why it went away.

n1zyy @johndalton: Yup, same findings here: Nagios going off the hook because Internap in Somerville is offline.

johndalton Seems that #internap may have DC-wide #outage in BSN003 - can anyone confirm?

fps81 hosts within 69.25.205-69.25.207 appear to have fallen off the internet. Good job Internap. I wasn't interested in sleep tonight anyway.

librarythingtim @slack2daze @JSatrape @johndalton Share anything you find out about the Internap nap?

librarythingtim Apparently our colo—the ironically named "internap"—is down for everyone. http://twitter.com/#search?q=Internap

JSatrape @slack2daze Internap isn't even answering the phone. :(

JSatrape Anyone else having massive issues with Internap's Boston colo?

---

(Actually I suspect it was a drastic equipment failure - they said "The power event was limited to DC power systems that provide power to the Internap PNAP and not customer UPS systems." Still waiting to hear the full story..)

previous blog entry.

a 8/08/2009 02:25:00 AM

from Dan Rayburn:

>>With Limelight reporting earnings last night, it's now clear that the major players in the CDN space, the vendors that control the vast majority of the market share for video delivery, are all experiencing no growth. Akamai's M&E business was down and Limelight, Internap and Level 3 all reported no revenue growth for their CDN business. And with Q3 typically being a weak quarter for the CDNs and some of them setting guidance that shows no growth over Q2, we may have yet to see the bottom.

a 8/08/2009 02:10:00 AM

more...

>>Where do you get this "millions of dollars" statement?

No one but a few Internap employees know the CDN engineering budget, so you're just making up numbers. Do you know how many people comprise the CDN engineering team? A lot fewer than you think. I can ensure you that the work we did resulted in cost savings far in excess of the cost of salaries for the CDN engineering team.

Ask companies like Ustream and Softlayer what we accomplished while I was at Internap. None of those companies would be customers today if not for the work of my team.

We rebuilt nearly the entire CDN in a year at a cost of less than 1/100 of what Dan Rayburn says it costs to build a CDN. We rebuilt things so that they actually worked for our customers in a reliable manner, resulting in landing many new CDN customers.

And, in case you forgot, I quit- I was not fired or asked to leave. In fact, I was asked more than once to reconsider my departure- to the point where the door is open for me to return if I so choose.

I was the largest individual shareholder and I didn't waste the shareholder's money. I ran a team as lean as I could and we did as much as we could to reduce operating costs.

I spent over $28k of my own money on things like taking folks to conferences, buying development tools, desks, computers, and lots of other things that the company could have paid for- but weren't considered essential so I didn't feel right in making the company pay for them.

To claim that I just siphoned money from the company is plain wrong.

a 8/07/2009 06:19:00 PM

Craig Vachon is Immersion's senior vice president and general manager of its Touch line of business. HT to cellodude on the IV MB. It's even more interesting given the existing relationship between Immerion and Vosteon, Ford's main supplier:

>>Haptics - touch feedback concepts

* Feedback through touch happens faster than through other senses.
* The response to touch is usually strong, visceral and can evoke emotion.
* Objects that have a solid feel may convey an emotional response that ranges from a feeling of high quality to an enhanced sense of security.
* Consumer perception of what constitutes a "high quality" feel falls into a fairly narrow range that is measurable through consumer testing.

[Derived from a Ford research report on Haptics]

a 8/07/2009 06:09:00 PM

the guy feels like talking a lot... emphasis added... the part I agree is the following:

>>My biggest worry is that the person who was the driving force behind acquiring Vitalstream is still in the same position at Internap. If anyone should have lost their job for making a bad decision, that's the person.

>>I only have opinions. I think Internap is full of politics and it's a challenge to be part of a team when you're remote and the folks who don't like you are local. They get face time with management, et al a lot more often and can continually attack people behind their back.

Maybe Eric recognizes this and is only hiring in Atlanta- I don't know. Their job site would probably be a good indication.

>>I think most of the company wanted to stay status quo and JD deciding to expand the business into software as a service/cloud-like stuff (that's really what CDN is) was probably viewed as a betrayal of the company "DNA".

Another issue is Internap's crazy religious belief that Linux is the only viable option for anything. Vitalstream was based on Windows and that caused a lot of bad blood.

I also think Phil Kaplan and team's near fraudulent (or completely fraudulent if you ask me) representation of the Vitalstream assets was also a problem. Once folks realized that the VS folks were smoking crack (not literally), it was too late. That upset a lot of folks- quite understandably.

I think JD maybe isn't the best CEO for some folks. For me, he was great. I was hired to do a job and I was trusted to do it. There was no micro-managing, no second guessing. Sure, I was questioned and challenged, but that's a lot different.. I think most of the folks at the company needed more direction because they didn't want to be leaders.

I'll bet in hindsight, he would have hired a few more strong leaders and let them do their thing.

Remember though, the position Internap was in when he came in. He righted the ship and fixed the financials. He took a risk (CDN) and I respect him for taking that risk- daring to make the company more than it was. Sometimes risks pay off, sometimes not.

You also have to look at the CDN market at the time- rates were high and were climbing. It was fair to expect them to continue to climb for awhile longer. No one- not Akamai, not Limelight, predicted or was prepared for the massive drop in CDN pricing.
My biggest worry is that the person who was the driving force behind acquiring Vitalstream is still in the same position at Internap. If anyone should have lost their job for making a bad decision, that's the person.

>>Well, I think they have to write down most of the remaining goodwill. The CDN has been almost completely re-written and there's little value to be extracted from what Internap bought. What they are selling today is not what they bought- it's virtually all new. I'm no financial expert, but if there's $60M+ in goodwill remaining, there has to be $60M in value to be extracted, right? If not, it has to be written down (minus the value that has been realized). I think.

That's not to say the CDN business should be "written off", i.e. dumped.

I have read the public filings on Eric's compensation package and have drawn my own conclusion what he's likely to do. Folks can read it themselves and draw their conclusions. He does stand to make a lot of money if he sells the company and walks away. You can calculate how high the stock price will need to rise to in order to make him more money by not selling.

Then again, maybe his comp package is just a reflection of what he was able to negotiate- not any indication of what he's going to do.

I'd think that if the board's intention was to sell the company, then one of the board members would have taken over as CEO vs conducting a long search to find someone to come in and act as CEO.

>>No, it's a selling point. The competition always hammers on the fact (wrong) that the Vitalstream CDN was junk. Well, it's not the "Vitalstream" CDN anymore. This is stated on most sales calls, and that information is not confidential.

This information has been told to customers at tradeshows as well.

a 8/07/2009 01:50:00 PM

from LLNW conference call, transcripts by Seeking Alpha (emphasis added):

David Hilal - FBR Capital Markets
Okay and on pricing, Jeff, your comment on aggressive pricing or it is pretty comparable to what Akamai had said last week and I do no think it is probably a surprise to anybody at least in common sector but maybe you can talk to us about the pace of that aggressive pricing and I mean pricing war sometimes can last a long time and sometimes can be short and you obviously need to manage your business based on how you forecast that. So, when you think add over the next year or so, do you think the pricing environment stays equally tough or starts to improve or could possibly get worse from what you have seen recently?
Jeffrey Lunsford
Sure, so let us give you some historical context here. So, three years ago, we were modeling about 20% to 25% annual unit price decline and about a year ago, we started looking at and talking to investors about probably you should model 25% to 30% annual price decline. What we saw in Q2 was in between 30% and 35% so if you want to be conservative, you would model a 30% to 35% going forward.
If you look back over a decade, that is much more rapid price decline than the industry has historically had and so, we do think that that will improve. We think we should return back to 25% to 30% and then ultimately back to 20% to 25% per year and we think there is two root causes for the compression going to this level.
Number one, the business environment, the economy customers are putting dramatic pressure on all of their vendors, CDNs included. Number two, which we have talked about in the past is that large telcos that began to offer CDN services are able to get paid when they deliver those bits on the ISP side and so to try to establish themselves in the business, they will subsidize CDN with other big delivery services. The effect of that second one, the entrance of the telcos into the market, we believe has now being felt and absorbed by the industry and so we believe that from here forward, we should be looking at a more return to normal.
What happened is that has caused a shakeout effectively. It is no secret that there are many smaller companies that were trying to make a run at the CDN sector have given up, shutdown or sold for $0.20 on a $1 and we now have a market that as I said earlier is solidifying around two or three market leaders. So, while at short term pain, we believe there will be a long term benefit and that this is a business that requires global scale and the analogy that we used is the package delivery business where you have that actual GPS and DHO and if you are going to build a global infrastructure to deliver anything where there is packages or bits, you only need two or three platforms.
And so with the way of a traffic that continues to grow and with the complexity of all the new devices people are accessing content with, we think that those two or three global platforms will going to have an amazing opportunity and an amazing amount of work ahead of them and so the shakeout when you look back a couple of years from now while short term painful, you will look back and say, "Well, I was a good there winning in shakeout and the markets are now really healthy around these two or three platforms."

a 8/07/2009 12:28:00 PM

from the IV MB, by yyy60:

>>A new cyberknife is coming soon to Omaha

** this will be the second cyberknife in Nebraska **

Creighton University
Omaha, Nebraska

Urology Job Opportunity #190240
Assistant or Associate Professor

Exciting Academic Opportunity at Prestigious Midwestern University!

Creighton University, ranked for the sixth consecutive year as the #1 Comprehensive University in the Midwest, (U.S. News and World Report) has a faculty opening for a BC/BE urologist at the assistant or associate professor level. We require fellowship training in general urology, advanced laparoscopy and robotic surgery. Urologic oncology training is requested but not required.

As an academic medical center, you will have access to the DaVinci Robotic Surgical System and full support and referrals from our 250+ Creighton medical team. We seek diverse minimally invasive procedure skills which include mastery of advanced laparoscopic techniques with nephrectomies, pyeloplasties, prostatectomies and radical prostatectomy. In addition, surgical experience with cryotherapy and brachytherapy of the prostate, KTP laser TURP and holmium laser ablation of prostate (HoLAP) are desired. If you are interested in teaching the next generation of surgeons or would like to explore your clinical research ideas, this could be the position for you. Our cancer team welcomes innovative ideas about urologic cancer follow-up strategies.

The latest Cyberknife technology will be available in 2009!

a 8/07/2009 12:21:00 PM

having said I believe management shouldn't write on a message board, here's the latest from the Yahoo MB:

>>I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Sullivan. He allowed me to build and run a team the way I felt was best and he always tried to drive things forward at Internap. He spent a lot of energy "running interference" for me so my team could get things done. Everything he told me was true, he never played political games, and he was determined to bring focus to the CDN. His departure made me absolutely confident that I made the right decision to leave. If I hadn't resigned prior to his departure, I would have done so immediately after his departure.

I'll work with him again in a heartbeat if the opportunity is available.

I'm purposely not answering your question. If folks think Tim leaving was a good thing, then they probably should view my leaving as a good thing too. However, if they think my leaving was a bad thing, then they would probably view his departure as a bad thing as well.

The current direction/future of the CDN happened because of Tim's direction- it started last year. Of course, he'll get no credit for it because most folks think major shifts happen overnight. They don't realize when you're fighting uphill it takes months to make headway.

One thing that no one has noticed- there's no management left outside of Atlanta. Everyone in management who wasn't in Atlanta is gone.

>>I don't think there's a clear answer, and not being in Atlanta meant I couldn't observe most of the folks.

My morale dropped to an all-time low- to the point where I dreaded coming into work. Contrast that with a few months ago when I was working 100 hours a week and enjoying it.

Folks can say what they want about DeBlasio, but the man never lied to me, never hid facts from me, treated me with respect, and virtually always approved the things I asked for to do my job. He knew he wasn't a visionary in the CDN market so he let me quietly lead the direction and supported it in other areas of the company. He never made a hasty/reactionary decision. Hard for me to ask for more in a CEO.

a 8/07/2009 11:58:00 AM

from the Yahoo MB:

>>Heard back from Inap on the Fisher SLA...looks like we are getting about a 20% credit for the month. I'm a bit underwhelmed (as expected). FWIW, as of this week, the facility is back on 'interim' city power. We got hit with another power event that affected half of our gear as they transitioned from the generators to the temporary city feed (thank goodness for the redundant power drops / servers). Still no ETA on when the final redesigned power solution will be in place. I really wish they could keep the lights on!
We're down to a short list of new colo options...Inap's Tukwilla (Sabey) facility is still in the running but at this point I'd guess we'll be contributing to next quarter's churn.

a 8/07/2009 08:28:00 AM

worth keeping an eye on. This is from Data Center Knowledge:

>>Water Main Break Near Key NYC Telecom Hub

A major water main break in New York has flooded streets near 60 Hudson Street, one of the most important communications buildings in Manhattan. Early reports from New York television stations indicate there is water in the basement of 60 Hudson, which houses data centers and telecom hubs for more than 100 communications companies. New York emergency officials are aware of the building’s strategic importance and said to be using sandbags to try and limit water damage at the building.

a 8/07/2009 05:27:00 AM

just one source, no reply:

>>Internap Somerville - 70 Innerbelt - Offline?

fog

View Beta Profile

Web Hosting Master

Join Date: Jun 2002

Posts: 1,322

Looks like they're back up now. The email itself alludes to "reports of possible power issues on site" but looks like our machines never lost power.

a 8/07/2009 03:03:00 AM

Steve Kiene is back on the Yahoo MB and says his final word about it:

>>About the only thing I should say is that I owned 1.5 million shares (purchased with my own money- no grants or options) and I sold everything (within the trading window for executives) after I decided to leave.

Saying anything else would be just my opinion and is pretty much meaningless at this point. I'm no longer an employee so nothing I say should mean anything. Current employees with a vested interest in the success of the company are the ones whose opinions matter.

a 8/06/2009 08:30:00 PM

DE-CIX, as expected, 10 Gig port:

Company Information
Company Name	Internap
Also Known As	Internap Network Services
Company Website	http://www.internap.com/
Primary ASN	22212

Public Peering Exchange Points
Exchange Point Name	ASN	IP Address	Mbit/sec
DE-CIX	22212	80.81.194.45	10000

a 8/06/2009 07:58:00 AM

Rob Powell, at Telecom Rumblings, was kind enough to publish a small article about Akamai:

>>A closer look at some Akamai data

a 8/06/2009 07:05:00 AM

from Data Center Knowledge, impact expected on Equinix and SAVVIS (and probably Switch and Data):

SEC Expected to Limit ‘Flash’ Trading

Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman, Mary Schapiro, said Tuesday that she would seek to ban a type of high-speed financial trading known as “flash trading” as the first step in a broader review of activity in the markets for automated low latency trading. Schapiro said she had asked the agency to devise “an approach that can be quickly implemented to eliminate the inequity that results from flash orders.”

Low latency trading has become a big business for a number of players in the data center space, especially Equinix (EQIX) and Savvis (SVVS).

a 8/06/2009 06:57:00 AM

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/08/05/afx6745618.html

here's the filing. Daniel Chavez, Immersion’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Medical Line of Business, leaving as well. No mention of any relationship with the ongoing investigation:

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(b)

On July 31, 2009, Stephen M. Ambler, Principal Financial Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President, Finance of Immersion Corporation (“Immersion”), resigned from his employment with Immersion. Immersion agreed to pay Mr. Ambler approximately $105,000, representing six months of his current base salary. In addition, Immersion agreed to pay him six months of COBRA payments and to extend the exercise period of his currently-vested stock options.

Immersion is currently undergoing a search for a permanent Chief Financial Officer. In the interim, Immersion has retained an outside consultant to assist in managing its finance and accounting organization.

(e)

Reference is made to the severance arrangement for Mr. Ambler described above.

Item 8.01 Other Events

Daniel Chavez, Immersion’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Medical Line of Business, will resign from Immersion effective August 7, 2009.

a 8/04/2009 02:46:00 AM

Patient education video for CyberKnife

Patient education video from Accuray Inc. which makes the CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System. It is one of several machines that can deliver stereotactic body radiotherapy or SBRT.

http://www.philly.com/philly/video/52380647.html

a 8/03/2009 01:48:00 AM

from inquirer.net:

>>More demand than supply seen in data centers

MANILA, Philippines – Data centers are in a renaissance in recent years with increased Internet usage, spurred by the growth of online services

Samuel Lee, president of data center company Equinix Asia Pacific said the sheer size of Asia -- with its tech-savvy population and the number of industries, from small, medium, and large corporations -- is creating new demand for data centers.

“Outsourcing growth, Internet data traffic, and electronic trading in Asia can be attributed to the rise in data center growth. With this, many Asian companies are looking at new business models to keep up with operational capacity while maintaining customer satisfaction,” Lee said.

But even with data centers popping up in different regions, Lee said the introduction of Internet-ready devices, as well as the use of social networking services are pushing demand farther away from the supply side.

The use of video is also one of the reasons for increased bandwidth usage and storage space among telecommunications providers and digital media portals, who would constantly look at data centers for more space and connection speed.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Friday, August 7, 2009

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Monday, August 3, 2009

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