Web-hosting firms defy recession

from TechWorld:

>>Web-hosting firms defy recession

Firms continue to build new data centers, although at a slower pace than a few years ago

Carolyn Duffy Marsan (Network World) 15/05/2009 04:30:00

New data center space is selling out quickly. Equinix announced May 5 that it had completed an $82 million expansion of its Secaucus, N.J., data center, with 50% of the space booked or reserved by customers on opening day.

"We're already looking at phase three of that expansion," says Justin Starr (Jason is the correct name...), senior director of investor relations at Equinix.

Starr says the difference between now and 2001 is that the Web-hosting industry didn't go into the recession with overcapacity. "We've seen stats on the industry where it's above 70% utilization. Some cities are even tighter than that," Starr says.

Equinix provides "a network aggregation opportunity for the enterprise," Starr says. "The savings [customers] get by having access to all of these networks under one roof can offset what they are spending with Equinix."

Starr says it's very difficult to take an application out of an Equinix data center and bring it back in-house. "It's a very sticky business model," he adds.