Waters Rankings 2010

Best Hosting Provider
Equinix

http://www.waterstechnology.com/waters/news/1724170/waters-rankings-2010-all-winners

Equinix 2Q 2010 Earnings Preview

Equinix (EQIX) will be reporting 2Q 2010 results on Wednesday, July 28th.

This call will be particularly interesting as Equinix completed the acquisition of Switch and Data in the quarter - while we do not expect that the two Companies might have already developed significant synergies, we are sure that the conference call will be useful to give investors additional color on the status of the integration.

According to its updated guidance given on May 7^th, Equinix expects revenues to be in the range of $296.0 to $298.0 million, with cash gross margins of about 64%. This forecast reflects a closing date of April 30, 2010 for the Switch and Data acquisition, which therefore will contribute to Equinix’s results from May 1, 2010 onwards only.

As a side note, the strength of the US dollar (or, said in a different way, the recent weakness of the Euro, which represented about 16% of revenues for the former stand alone Equinix) might have negatively impacted Equinix's non-US results for the quarter, as guidance was given using, for example, $1.36 dollar to the Euro.

On a same currency basis, we expect Equinix's performance in Europe and Asia to show very good strength, in spite of currency conversions.

Analysts estimate revenues of 295.9M on average, slightly below Company's guidance, and EPS of $ 0.24.

The strategic importance of the Switch and Data merger deserves spending a good part of this article reviewing, once more, the reasons behind the acquisition and its potential impact on Equinix numbers/synergies going forward.

Equinix's recent “Update Call on Closure of Switch and Data Acquisition” comes handy to resume several information:

Steve Smith - Equinix Inc. - President, CEO

The strategic rationale for this acquisition centers around five key elements. Gaining a quick entry in new markets, securing additional capacity in our existing markets, enhancing our core focus on network density and interconnection services, and producing strong financial synergies to enhance the accretiveness of this transaction. Finally this transaction continues to distance Equinix from other data center providers, and further establishes us as the only global network neutral data center provider, and clearly with the largest North American footprint.

The comment about the additional capacity is interesting, as Equinix, with this acquisition, has basically doubled the number of cabinets available for sale in the North American market.

We believe that the impact of this new inventory will start producing positive effect mostly in the second half of 2010:

Steve Smith - Equinix Inc. - President, CEO

Secondly, we will drive top-line growth with a strong focus on achieving revenue synergies across both sales organizations. An early sign of success over the past week is that we have already identified several Equinix customers that are interested in the Switch & Data inventory, and we have also started to receive inbound lead opportunities to cross-sell Switch & Data customers into Equinix's global footprint.

In our opinion, the New York metro area will strongly benefit from the combination of the Switch and Data inventory and the great success that Equinix is achieving within the financial vertical (comment added in Italic):

Steve Smith - Equinix Inc. - President, CEO

In the New York metro area, we have now acquired three data centers in New York City, two of which are located within key telecom landing points. Additionally, the capacity gain from their sizable new data center in Bergen County, will supplement our existing footprint in New Jersey, which we expect to be important in meeting the demand from our financial services customer base.

Given our historical fill rates in this metro, we are very excited by the additional capacity in both New Jersey locations (the former Switch and Data Bergen facility and the new Equinix NY4 third phase expansion).

Equinix has recently been in the news for several wins within the financial community, like Deutsche Börse Systems, selecting Equinix as strategic data center provider in Frankfurt, Germany and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), operator of the Australian futures market, deploying its new hosting solution within the Equinix Chicago (CH1) data center. Several networks have also announced connections to different Equinix's data centers worldwide, targeting the low latency needs of financial institutions. As a reminder, Equinix is the only colo provider with a presence at all major exchange markets worldwide.

Focusing on the New York market, Direct Edge has just converted its trading platforms to formal Exchanges, and is now operating from the Equinix NY4 data center, a move which could represent an important catalyst for the financial community.

These comments are taken from Securities Technology Monitor:

In 2,500 square feet of space, you can house a typical Radio Shack store, with hundreds of electronic products, ranging from smart phones to car security systems to MP3 players to weather radios to cables and batteries.

Or, in roughly the same amount of space, you can house a stock exchange. Or two.

Such is the case with EDGA and EDGX, the two newly approved stock exchanges owned by Direct Edge, which formally debut Wednesday in Secaucus, N.J. As competition in securities trading venues goes up, so does the drive for speed and “scalability,’’ the ability to expand rapidly and reliably.

…

Unlike the New York Stock Exchange, you won’t see a monster-sized flag draped over where Direct Edge operates the new trading platforms that will power EDGA and EDGX. The two exchanges sit side by side, in a black wire cage inside a nondescript industrial building that could just as easily hide a distribution warehouse.

Spare servers in this cage provide immediate backup, in case of failure. A second cage with copies of the entire EDGA and EDGX trading exchanges sits in another nondescript building in North New Jersey, just in case.
...

From the get-go, the new system will be able to handle 220,000 messages every second, while keeping up the pace of acknowledging each order in less than half a million. Each of the two exchanges can handle 2.5 billion transactions a day. “That is four times the capacity of even the days surrounding the Flash Crash,’’ said O’Brien. “So there is significant head room there.”
...

“There is no theoretical limit” to the amount of transactions Direct Edge will be able to handle each day, Bonanno said, at these speeds.

More information about the Direct Edge Exchange come from wallstreetandtech.com:

Direct Edge Chief Executive William O'Brien said the company is not about to venture into unfamiliar territory with its exchange status, which means tighter regulatory oversight.

But he said a new data center launched during the conversion opens a new battle front with competitors in selling trading data to increasingly hungry investors.

"That's something we view as a way to broaden our competitive footprint," O'Brien said in an interview. "As great as this company has progressed so far, I still feel like it is still getting started."

Just hours before ringing the exchanges' opening bell in Jersey City Wednesday, O'Brien told Reuters Insider that Direct Edge "could potentially" list its shares in an initial public offering. The IPO plan was originally set for this year.

From an interconnection stand point, Equinix has increased the number of networks and ISPs connected to its data centers from 410 to 575. Switch and Data's success in network density was unparalleled in the industry, and approximately 31% of revenues were represented by interconnection services, or more than double Equinix numbers. Switch and Data Palo Alto and Equinix Ashburn represent the two most important peering points on the West and East Coast of the USA, and both Company’s regional data centers will benefit from the wider offer of ISPs and networks that they will now be able to offer to their existing customers base.

From a financial point of view, Equinix will take advantage of Switch and Data'S NOLs, and expects to generate about $20 million of synergy savings within one year, which is quite a substantial amount, if we consider that it does represent about 10% of Switch and Data cash costs.

Equinix is also estimating acquisition costs of about $23 million for professional and legal fees, that will be split between 2009 and 2010. Integration costs will also be substantial:

Keith Taylor - Equinix Inc. - CFO

For each of the quarters through the integration period, we will provide you an estimate of what we believe the integration costs to be, and compare those costs against the savings attributed to our synergies. For 2010 we expect the integration costs to be $2 million greater that the cost savings relating to the synergies. But as we looked at the entire integration period, as Steve mentioned, we expect to receive a minimum of $20 million in annual cost savings from this transaction, half of those annualized savings should be realized by the end of the year. The restructuring costs associated with this deal will primarily be incurred over the next three or four quarters, and will be expensed to the income statement on a separate income statement line. The restructuring costs will not affect our adjusted EBITDA metric.

As some key operating metrics were used in slightly different ways by the two Companies, Equinix provided a reconciliation sheet on its web side for Switch and Data's recent quarter.

As far as revenues, Equinix hasn't really included any synergy in its forecast:

David Barden - BofA Merrill Lynch - Analyst

But no revenue synergies in the guidance at all?

Keith Taylor - Equinix Inc. - CFO

At this stage we haven't.

Clearly there is some expectation, again, as Steve alluded to, that we are already starting selling into their assets, and I understand from our sales team we are getting leads from the Switch and Data team into our (global) assets. So I think that there is going to be a strong opportunity for us. I think it will create some synergies, but we have not made that assumption today.

The combined business would be already in a position to generate about 1.8 billion of revenues, excluding further expansions that the now combined Company might need to take into consideration quickly:

Mark Adams - Equinix Inc. - Chief Development Officer

Yes, they actually, they do have a couple of projects that they have had under review, and we need to make decisions pretty much in the next 30 to 60 days, but given the commonality of the businesses and the markets we are focused on, they are projects we are very interested in, and we would like to pull right into our portfolio. So we see some good opportunities for expansion.

Uncaged: Direct Edge Bares its Exchanges

from Securities Technology Monitor:

>>In 2,500 square feet of space, you can house a typical Radio Shack store, with hundreds of electronic products, ranging from smart phones to car security systems to MP3 players to weather radios to cables and batteries.

Or, in roughly the same amount of space, you can house a stock exchange. Or two.

Such is the case with EDGA and EDGX, the two newly approved stock exchanges owned by Direct Edge, which formally debut Wednesday in Secaucus, N.J. As competition in securities trading venues goes up, so does the drive for speed and “scalability,’’ the ability to expand rapidly and reliably.

...

The economic benefits (see “Benefits, and Costs, in the Life of an Exchange”) and the prestige may be big factors. And the transformation of its alternative venues into full-fledged exchanges and the technology transformation that has gone with it may just be the price of keeping up with rivals.

...

Unlike the New York Stock Exchange, you won’t see a monster-sized flag draped over where Direct Edge operates the new trading platforms that will power EDGA and EDGX. The two exchanges sit side by side, in a black wire cage inside a nondescript industrial building that could just as easily hide a distribution warehouse.

Inside the cage are 80 racks of Hewlett-Packard ProLiant servers and related memory storage units. Anywhere from two to 14 servers sit in each rack. About 200 servers, per exchange. By H-P’s estimate, this generation of “convergent” servers -- which include processing capacity, mem ory storage, networking features and energy efficiency – puts the same amount of computing power in a single box as was found in 21 boxes four years ago.

Spare servers in this cage provide immediate backup, in case of failure. A second cage with copies of the entire EDGA and EDGX trading exchanges sits in another nondescript building in North New Jersey, just in case.

...

From the get-go, the new system will be able to handle 220,000 messages every second, while keeping up the pace of acknowledging each order in less than half a million. Each of the two exchanges can handle 2.5 billion transactions a day. “That is four times the capacity of even the days surrounding the Flash Crash,’’ said O’Brien. “So there is significant head room there.”

...

“There is no theoretical limit” to the amount of transactions Direct Edge will be able to handle each day, Bonanno said, at these speeds.

Lexus HS 250h – an Easy to Like Hybrid

from Canadafreepress.com:

>>Lexus HS 250h – an Easy to Like Hybrid

...

One thing that was pretty cool about the interior of my test HS was the Remote Touch feature, which comes with the optional navigation system. It’s a mouse-like cursor control thingy mounted on the center console, nicely at hand. It features a kind of force-feedback “detent” that lets you know by feel when you’ve moved the cursor over something clickable, which can help you keep your eyes on the road.

This Remote Touch is a lovely alternative to those knob-like cursor control thingies that are rearing their ugly heads in more and more cars these days and I hope it catches on. It may take up more real estate on the console than a knobby thing, and they need to work on the clunky on-screen interface, but I like it anyway.

Direct Edge's Trading Platforms Convert to Exchanges

from wallstreetandtech.com:

>>Direct Edge's Trading Platforms Convert to Exchanges

* EDGX, EDGA trading platforms convert to formal exchanges

* Direct Edge gains equal footing with NYSE, Nasdaq

* New exchanges' opening bell in Jersey City, New Jersey

---

The conversion brings new stock symbols to trading screens across the country and puts Direct Edge on equal footing with NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc and BATS Global Markets -- rivals it has aggressively and successfully taken on in the hyper competitive market for order flow.

Direct Edge Chief Executive William O'Brien said the company is not about to venture into unfamiliar territory with its exchange status, which means tighter regulatory oversight.

But he said a new data center launched during the conversion opens a new battle front with competitors in selling trading data to increasingly hungry investors.

"That's something we view as a way to broaden our competitive footprint," O'Brien said in an interview. "As great as this company has progressed so far, I still feel like it is still getting started."

Just hours before ringing the exchanges' opening bell in Jersey City Wednesday, O'Brien told Reuters Insider that Direct Edge "could potentially" list its shares in an initial public offering. The IPO plan was originally set for this year.

Toshiba New Sensation UI Solution

Direct Edge opens new front in battle for US market share

from finextra.com:

>>Direct Edge opens new front in battle for US market share

Direct Edge has opened a new front in the battle for US exchange market share by converting its two alternative trading systems into formal exchanges and completing the migration to a new technology platform.

Effective Wednesday, the EDGA and EDGX Exchanges are now trading all Tape A, B, and C symbols out of a new data centre at Equinix's NY4 facility in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Direct Edge Says IPO Possible as Its Markets Become Exchanges

from businessweek.com:

>>Direct Edge Says IPO Possible as Its Markets Become Exchanges

...

The company’s market share for equities trading this month was 8 percent, down 1.8 percentage points from last month, according to a Macquarie report. Bats, which accounted for 11.2 percent so far this month, surpassed Direct Edge’s volume in May and June. Direct Edge’s share of trading outpaced Bats in the second half of last year.

The decrease in market share this month is “acceptable,” O’Brien said. “It’s because of the enormity of the transition,” he said. “What we did is something no stock exchange has done before -- completely migrating its technology to a new platform and moving into a new data center at the same time.” Direct Edge this month moved its systems to a data center in Secaucus, New Jersey operated by Equinix Inc.

“We’re excited by our ability, with the new platform and technology architecture, to deliver new products that are innovative,” O’Brien said. “That will help Direct Edge stand out.”

Jeff's story

Regarding CyberKnife radiosurgery: “The treatment was wonderful. No side effects, no problems, and, per my urologist, no cancer,” said Jeff.
Click to read his story: http://cyberknife.com/all/jeff.aspx

CyberKnife::Jeff's Story

Jeff Hamilton, a NASA engineer and golf enthusiast, found himself working for the Apollo Space Program in Houston, Texas forty-five years ago. Jeff was involved in all of the Apollo/Saturn space launches up until the now infamous “Apollo 13” mission.

Opening of the New Chinese Data Center: Telehouse Shanghai

Telehouse expanding in China: same partner as Equinix.

>>Opening of the New Chinese Data Center: Telehouse Shanghai

On Monday, July 19, 2010 KDDI, Telehouse’ parent company will launch Telehouse Shanghai, providing colocation services in Shanghai, China. This will be KDDI's second Telehouse branded enterprise in China following the opening of Telehouse Beijing. This move will see Telehouse data centers branch out into 9 regions, 12 cities and cover 18 sites worldwide with a global footprint of approximately 113,000 square meters.

Telehouse Shanghai is a high spec data center constructed in Shanghai’s Pudong district in cooperation with Shanghai Data Solution Co., Ltd., a data center that provides redundancy related services via career diversity in Shanghai.

...

Equinix Extends Operations into China Through Partnership With Shanghai Data Solution (SDS)

Equinix selects SDS as its Data Center Partner to further support Equinix customers' colocation needs in Shanghai, P.R. China

Foster City, CA – March 23, 2010 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), a provider of global data center services, today announced a strategic partnership agreement with Shanghai Data Solution Co., Ltd. (SDS), a leading systems integrator for network and communications services in Shanghai, P.R. China. The partnership allows Equinix customers to enjoy a similar level of availability and reliability of colocation services in China through the SDS data center, as they do within the 49 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers operated by Equinix worldwide. The partnership provides Equinix with a strategic entry-way into one of the world’s most sought-after and fastest-growing markets: China.

Internap works on next step of CDN service rebuild

from Tier 1 Research daily newsletter:

>>Internap Network Services continues to work on improving its standing in the CDN market with a plan for further improvements to its service offerings and a revamped marketing message.

New site, too.

Co-location, co-location, co-location: the role of the neutral data centre in 21st century trading

By Robin Manicom,
director of financial services,
Equinix

The complexity and volume of electronic trading has increased exponentially over the past decade as the financial industry continues to invest heavily in computer-driven technology. The Financial Information Forum reports that from 2006 to 2009 peak messages per second increased more than fivefold, leaping from 314,733 to 1,795,348 – and this growth rate continues its climb unabated.

read more at this link.

Telecity shares jump amid takeover rumours

rumor from Telegraph UK:

Rumours were circulating that Telecity, the data centre operator whose technology allows millions of people to watch internet videos of cats on skateboards and other inane curiosities, is engaged in takeover talks with its main US rival.

Shares in Telecity, Europe's largest data centre operator, jumped 7.4 to 403.3p on the back of chatter that it has been in in-depth buy-out talks. Sources suggested that Telecity has been in discussion with US business Equinix for about three months.

Piper Jaffray: Hospital And Freestanding Center Capital Spending Continues To Show Improvement

from Benzinga.com:

>>Piper Jaffray: Hospital And Freestanding Center Capital Spending Continues To Show Improvement

“Our provider panelists appeared more willing to commit capital to projects that drive revenues through increased patient volumes (i.e., throughput) and/or products that address new revenue streams than we have seen in recent years. Fortunately, LINAC manufacturers have stepped up R&D efforts in spite of weak capex trends and have released a number of products recently that meet these criteria, including TrueBeam (VAR), TomoHD (TOMO) and CyberKnife VSI (ARAY ). We believe recent product innovations, reimbursement clarity, the elimination of most health care reform concerns and an overall healthier economic backdrop (relative to a year ago) support a more optimistic outlook for large-dollar capital equipment purchases for the foreseeable future,” the analysts say.

Equinix CEO Stephen Smith on why he'd like to eat with Apple's chief.

If you could pick anyone in the world and have lunch with them... who would it be? In a videotaped interview with Forbes, Equinix CEO and President Steve Smith reveals who he would choose. We wonder whether there's an app for that? Just a hint...

Forbes.com Video Network | Technology: Lunch With Steve Jobs?

MD Buyline Announces High Impact Technologies that Hold Promise for Hospital Service Lines

post by yyy60:

MD Buyline Announces High Impact Technologies that Hold Promise for Hospital Service Lines


MD Buyline recently identified the top emerging technologies with the highest impact for 2010 as:

• Autologous Cell Therapy
• Alzheimer's Therapeutic Drug
• Sepsis Microfilter
• Non-Invasive Cardiac Radiosurgery

...

Non-invasive Cardiac Radiosurgery: This technique provides a non-invasive, more time-efficient alternative to catheter-based technology, using the robotic linear accelerator from Accuray®, the CyberKnife®.The technology uses radiation generated from outside the patient to target regions of the heart, forming lesions around the pulmonary vein.Once approved, CyberHeart offers the security of a fully-automated robotic technology capable of delivering reproducible results.

Cyberheart Inc's patents

background:

Accuray Enters Licensing Agreement with CyberHeart Incorporated

Sunnyvale, California, April 30, 2007 – Accuray Incorporated (Nasdaq: ARAY), a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with CyberHeart Incorporated under which CyberHeart will use Accuray’s technology to develop a non-invasive method for performing cardiac ablation. Cardiac ablation is used to destroy a small portion of the heart that is causing abnormal rhythms. Ultimately, the developed technology may have applications in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a disorder that prevents the heart from beating properly and can cause blood clots and strokes.

CyberHeart has received commitments for independent venture capital financing to fund technical and clinical research and development of a cardiac ablation system that incorporates Accuray’s technology. In the event CyberHeart is able to successfully develop and commercialize such a system, under Accuray’s agreement with CyberHeart, Accuray will be the sole supplier of radiosurgery equipment to CyberHeart and will also be entitled to receive specified payments based on usage of the CyberHeart system.

a post by yyy60:

20100160775 System For Non-Invasive Heart Treatment - non-invasive method for treatment of arrhythmia 06-24-2010
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100160...


20100137709 Test Object For The Validation of Tracking In The Presence of Motion 06-03-2010
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20100137...


20090257557 Radiation Treatment Planning and Delivery for Moving Targets in the Heart 10-15-2009
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090257...


20090080610 Radiosurgical Ablation of the Myocardium 03-26-2009
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20090080...


20080317204 Radiation treatment planning and delivery for moving targets in the heart 12-25-2008
http://www.faqs.org/patents/app/20080317...

Level 3 Connects New Transatlantic Route at Equinix London International Business Exchange Data Center

Press Release

Level 3’s new access node will offer customers in the Equinix LD4/5 campus direct connectivity to three transatlantic routes; Yellow, AC-1 and Apollo North, as well as provide access to its extensive North American footprint via the Level 3 facilities in New York. In addition, alongside the community of networks, content and digital media companies, enterprises and financial service providers already operating within Equinix’s LD4/5 campus, Level 3’s customers will benefit from a new route that bypasses central London. By locating the access node on the outskirts of London, Level 3 has improved the resilience and speed of connection between London and the U.S.

Is it time to place Ethernet exchange bets?

interesting article from Connected Planet:

>>There are a variety of things that define a new market as "real." Multiple vendors targeting it. Customers making purchases, not just kicking the tires. Money flowing in from investors. Big name executives willing to risk their careers on the opportunity.

The Ethernet exchange market looks to be checking off all those boxes one by one. The latest: AT&T's Sanford Brown, a key player on the service provider side of the Ethernet movement, taking the reins today as the CEO of Ethernet exchange CENX.

Inside the Equinix San Jose data centre

iTnews takes an exclusive look at SV1 and a sneak peek at the forthcoming US$145 million SV5 facility.

>>“SV5 is a special design,” Equinix’s senior director of IBX operations in Silicon Valley Jerry Collier said.

The building itself will be constructed according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building specifications.

...

“SV1 is the hub of Silicon Valley,” Collier said.

The Equinix Exchange located in SV1 encompasses peering points that serve other Equinix centres in the Silicon Valley area – SV2, SV3 and SV4 – via a diverse fibre ring connecting the facilities.

SV1 has an average rack density of 1.75 kW. SV5 will support an average 4 kW per cabinet, according to Collier, although higher densities are possible, as long as customers are willing to pay for the space.