La sfida tecnologica nella moderna radioterapia

from gosalute.it:

>>La sfida tecnologica nella moderna radioterapia

L´incontro si è svolto mercoledì 26 maggio 2010 a Milano Castello Sforzesco, Chiostro della Rocchetta. Focus dell´evento è la Radioterapia, dalle origini ai nostri giorni.

...

L´iniziativa ha ottenuto il Patrocinio del Comune di Milano, Assessorato alla Salute.

Focus di questo incontro è la Radioterapia, dalle origini ai nostri giorni: relatori di fama internazionale illustrano lo stato dell´arte di questa Disciplina e le sue evoluzioni future in Italia, Europa e USA, dai trattamenti intracranici alle applicazioni full-body.

Ospiti del Meeting il Prof. Vincenzo Valentini (Roma), Presidente eletto della European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), il Prof. Federico Colombo (Vicenza), uno dei massimi esperti al mondo nel trattamento delle malformazioni artero-venose cerebrali, Iris C. Gibbs, MD (Stanford, USA), che utilizza il Sistema CyberKnife dal 1995, Eric Lartigau, MD (Lille, Francia), Presidente della French Society of Radiation Oncology (SFRO). Questi illustri relatori presentano un quadro generale sui limiti e i vantaggi delle tecnologie esistenti, le applicazioni full-body, casistica e follow-up, e il futuro della Radioterapia.

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Infatti, conclude il Professor Lartigau "i risultati degli studi prospettici iniziali, soprattutto per i pazienti non operabili, sono concordi e dimostrano un controllo locale del 90% a 1 anno" e sia in Europa che negli Stati Uniti sono iniziati 2 studi che confrontano la chirurgia con la radioterapia stereotassica.

Attualmente la Chirurgia rappresenta il gold standard in molte di quelle patologie che, in un prossimo Futuro, potrebbero diventare appannaggio della Radioterapia.

Equinix LD5 – Slough

from colo-x.com:

Equinix LD5, so called as it’s their 5th London facility or if you prefer, their second in Slough (SL2?!) is a hugely impressive and massive new data centre facility built to current standards. The sheer scale of this site together with LD4, located a few hundred metres away a 2 Buckingham Avenue means the chances of this location becoming a major hub are vastly increased. Phase 1 of 50,000 sq ft net tech is opened at launch (March 2010) with one hall aimed at colo clients, taking racks and cages with other being built out for client suites on demand.

Equinix (and its European predecessor IXEurope) are strong players in the mid tier corporate sector, servicing requirements in the 100kW to 1MW range and this is reflected in the low overall client numbers at LD4 for example, but the flexibility to build out small caged areas in LD5 might well appeal to smaller clients and help them gain traction at this end of the market. Power per cabinet is 4kW as standard but manageable up to 15kW.

The Future of the Future: The virtual workplace is a “must,” not a “should”

from kmworld.com:

>>The cloud helps to achieve that level of capability not only by spreading costs and reducing total cost of ownership, but also by providing the added benefits of system redundancy and geographic dispersal. As a green solution, the cloud provides additional energy savings through improved efficiencies resulting from virtualization, as well as ongoing innovations in cloud data center consolidation. We can attest to this firsthand, having recently toured the Equinix (equinix.com) super-secure data center in Ashburn, VA.

Orrick advises Equinix, Inc. on complex, multi-currency syndicated Asian financing

Hong Kong – LawFuel.com -

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Orrick) has advised Equinix, Inc., and its Asia-Pacific subsidiaries, in relation to a US$200 million multi-currency dual tranche five year syndicated loan facility. The financing closed on May 14, 2010.

DBS Bank Ltd., ING Bank N.V., The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., GE Commercial Finance, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, HSBC Bank USA and OCBC jointly arranged the loan facility, the proceeds of which will be used to support Equinix's development plans and repay existing term loan facilities for the Asia-Pacific region.

Equinix, Inc. is a provider of global data centre services across 35 metropolitan areas in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. It continues to experience strong growth in its business operations across the Asia-Pacific region.

Orrick's structured finance team was led by partners Dolph Hellman in San Francisco and Michelle Taylor with of counsel Donna Healy in Hong Kong.

"We were very pleased to advise our long-standing client Equinix, Inc. and its subsidiaries on completing such a successful, oversubscribed loan financing given the generally tough market conditions," commented partner Michelle Taylor, who heads Orrick's Asia finance practice and led the firm's international team. "With the breadth and depth of our experience in Asia and the U.S., our award-winning team of finance lawyers is well positioned to advise on multi-jurisdictional structured financings and we worked closely with the Equinix team to ensure that our client achieved its financing goals".

1540 Broadway - NY

1540 Broadway

In addition, data center company Equinix Operating Co. (not to be confused with the nearly identically named gym) took 8,737 square feet.

from The Commercial Observer

Bloomberg Businessweek's 12th Annual Tech 100 List

HT to Kathy:

>>Bloomberg Businessweek's 12th Annual Tech 100 List

43    EQUINIX                       USA    

Methodology

Data: Bloomberg, as of April 30

Methodology: To compile our list, we started with the more than 6,500 actively traded primary securities in the Bloomberg database in 13 tech sectors. We then set requirements of a minimum market capitalization of $1 billion, revenues of at least $500 million, and no more than a 5 percent decline in revenues from 2008 to 2009 (calculated in local currency). We also excluded companies whose stock had fallen by 50 percent or more in the 12 months ending April 30, 2010.

We then developed a means to normalize revenues and operating income of the remaining 210 companies so they could be fairly compared, and ranked them on these metrics as well as total shareholder return and employee growth, a key indicator of growth in tech companies, with 1 being the top ranking. The rankings received for normalized revenue and operating income were weighted at 35% each, shareholder return at 20% and employee growth at 10%. Adding them all up, the companies with the lowest summed weighted rankings made the Tech 100 list.

Equinix in Enschede

from bits-chips.nl:

>>Bankruimte en gebouwautomatisering beveiligen datacentrum

19 mei 2010

Een serverruimte is bij uitstek een plaats waar automatisering om de hoek komt kijken. Niet alleen vereisen de draaiende servers een goede conditionering van het binnenklimaat, ook moet de fysieke toegang tot deze computers streng beveiligd zijn om diefstal van de gegevens te voorkomen. Ilse Peters van Nedap Security Management beschrijft hoe Equinix een oud bankgebouw tot datacentrum omtoverde met het Aeos-systeem.

....

Google translation

Singapore plans data centre park

from Businesstimes.com.sg:

>>Singapore plans data centre park

The Republic aims to get world-class Internet and media companies to host their content and services here, reports RAJU CHELLAM

THE government is formulating an ambitious plan to set up what could probably be the world's first dedicated data centre park (DCP) for multinational banks, telecom giants and media companies to host their content and data services delivery in Singapore.

The proposed DCP will be set up by the IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore) and will occupy up to 12 hectares, making it probably the biggest such single DC (data centre) facility in the world.

Wall Street’s tech war

from NorthJersey.com:

>>Wall Street’s tech war

As the exchange industry evolves, NYSE Euronext has begun transferring its computer operations from a Brooklyn facility into a 400,000-square-foot data center it has been building along Route 17 in Mahwah.

"NYSE is looking to move the epicenter of U.S. capital markets from Broad Street to Mahwah," said Kevin McPartland, a senior analyst with the Tabb Group, a New York consulting and researching firm. McPartland estimates 8.5 billion shares are traded on U.S. equity markets every day.

The company plans for the data center to become mostly operational by the end of the third quarter, said Steve Rubinow, NYSE Euronext’s chief information officer.

...

"Direct Edge is co-operating with the regulators and other exchanges to effect changes to prevent a repeat of last Thursday,’’ said William O’Brien, Direct Edge’s chief executive officer, in a statement last week to The Record. "The meetings have been extremely constructive and I believe the outcome will be a positive for the market and for investors."

Demand for space

The presence of Direct Edge’s matching engines has helped drive demand for so-called co-location space at a Secaucus data center owned by the data-center operator Equinix, said John Knuff, its general manager.

Direct Edge is among more than 12 exchanges and trading venues with matching engines at Equinix’s two data centers in Secaucus, he said. The variety of trading venues and the high-frequency strategies driven by computer algorithms have contributed to demand for server space near matching engines.

"That’s definitely fueling the co-location business for all providers," Knuff said.

unhappy customer

from Web Hosting Talk:

>>Do NOT trust Internap

On the night of April 28th the 365Main facility in Chandler, AZ lost power to 2 data floors. That is about 20,000-30,000 sq feet of colo space that went down. The downtime lasted for over 10 minutes. I should mention that my contract with Internap specifically says a 100% power uptime SLA. Not 4 9's, not 5 9's, 100%. It was later determined to be human error that caused the facility to go dark, but that's not my problem.

...

The moral of this story is that every single person at Internap that I have mentioned is unhelpful, unresponsive, and leaves much to be desired in terms of customer satisfaction.

The impression that I get from these Directors and VP's is that of arrogance. They can't be bothered to return voicemails from unhappy customers, or answer emails providing status updates. How dare a lowly customer speak to them when they have peons below them to handle us worthless customers.

Hopefully my story will drive as many sales away from Internap as possible. I can only hope that no one else has to deal with the customer dis-service that is Internap.

-----

With one contract exception, I've generally had a good experience with Internap. But I agree that their customer service overall has declined somewhat in the last year or two, probably because of the cost cutting they've had to do to turn the company around. And I don't typically work with on things like billing disputes, and that's generally the weakest link in many companies; perhaps my perception would be worse if I had to deal with those issues like you.

...

And while I wish you luck (and you'll probably need it, as Internap is not some small mom-and-pop shop that lets people out of contracts willy-nilly), I'm not aware of any company that's going to let you out of a contract for 10 minutes of downtime.

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We were with Internap from 2002-2009.

Internap offers a great product with exceptional stability and engineering support, but their billing/account support functions are not very efficient (that's putting it nicely). We've had billing/contract/order issues that took a year to resolve. Yes, they can be THAT slow. You have to understand going in that their business model is built around providing service to large enterprises, and unless you're spending a minimum of $10K/month, you're really not that important to them. Maybe the number is $100K/month, who knows. I suspect we were one of their smallest colo accounts (period), so my service expectations were set accordingly. But anyway, for better or worse that's the bottom line as to why you don't get much love when you contact them.

...

Amended Facility

On May 10, 2010, Equinix Australia Pty Ltd., Equinix Hong Kong Limited, Equinix Singapore Pte. Ltd., Equinix Pacific Pte. Ltd and Equinix Japan K.K. (all indirect, wholly owned subsidiaries of Equinix, Inc. (“Equinix”) and, collectively, the “Borrowing Group”) amended a multi-currency credit facility agreement for approximately $170,000,000 in local currency equivalents (the “Facility”) with DBS Bank Ltd., ING Bank, N.V., Singapore Branch, The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. and GE Commercial Finance (Hong Kong) Ltd., as Joint Mandated Lead Arrangers and as Joint Mandated Bookrunners (the “JMLAs”) and The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., as Facility Agent (the “Amended Facility”). The Amended Facility has been increased to approximately $200,000,000 in local currency equivalents and adds HSBC, OCBC, Commerzbank, Citibank and Indian Bank as lenders.

The Amended Facility has a five-year term, and consists of two tranches. The first tranche is available for immediate drawing upon satisfaction of certain conditions precedent under the Amended Facility and will be used to refinance existing secured loans within the Borrowing Group. The second tranche provides for a delayed draw option of up to 24 months following the signing date of the Amended Facility. The Amended Facility carries an initial borrowing margin of 3.50% over the local borrowing rates for the first 12 months and provides for a reduction to a margin of 2.50% over the local borrowing rates depending on the leverage ratio within the Borrowing Group. The Amended Facility contains financial covenants with which the Borrowing Group must comply, which consist of leverage ratios, an interest expense coverage ratio and a debt service coverage ratio. The Amended Facility is guaranteed by Equinix and secured by certain of the Borrowing Group’s assets and share pledges.

Initial drawings under the Amended Facility occurred on May 14, 2010. The first tranche in the amount of approximately $81,000,000 in local currency equivalents has been drawn to repay existing term loan facilities. In addition, approximately $16,154,972 in local currency equivalents of the second tranche was drawn to fund capital expansion requirements in Singapore. The remainder will be drawn down over a 24-month period from May 10, 2010.

DBS Bank Ltd. and The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. are currently lenders to entities within the Borrowing Group under existing credit facility agreements that will be repaid in connection with entering into the Amended Facility.

Item 1.02.

Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement

On May 14, 2010, members of the Borrowing Group prepaid and terminated an approximately $88,000,000 multi-currency credit facility agreement, originally with ABN AMRO Bank N.V as lender, facility agent, arranger and collateral agent, as evidenced by a Facility Agreement and related Equinix guarantee, each dated August 31, 2007, as amended (the “Terminated Facility”). The Terminated Facility was used to fund capital expenditures on leasehold improvements, equipment, and other installation costs related to expansion plans in the Asia-Pacific region. Approximately $56,800,000 in local currency equivalents was outstanding under the Terminated Facility on the date of repayment.

The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., the lender under the Terminated Facility, is also a lender under the Amended Facility described above.

Prostate cancer study results from Netherlands

HT to yyy60 on the IV MB:

UROTODAY

CyberKnife stereotactic radiotherapy as monotherapy for low- to intermediate-stage prostate cancer: Early experience, feasibility, and tolerance - Abstract

Friday, 14 May 2010

Department of Radiation Oncology, Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.


The CyberKnife (CK), a linear accelerator mounted on a robotic device, enables excellent dose conformation to the target and minimizes dose to surrounding normal tissue. It is a very suitable device for performing hypofractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy as monotherapy for low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients. We report our early experience using this technique.

Between June 2008 and June 2009, 10 patients underwent CK monotherapy as treatment for their prostate cancer (stage < /=T2b, Gleason score (GS) < /=7, initial PSA < /=15 mug/L). The prescribed dose was 38 Gy in four daily fractions of 9.5 Gy. The International Prostate Symptom Score and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group symptom scale were prospectively administered before and at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months.

Median age of the patients was 71 years (range, 66-76). Three patients had stage T2a and 7a T1c disease, one patient had GS of 7, and all others had GS of 6. Median follow-up was 5.1 months. Median initial PSA was 8.3 ng/mL (range, 1.3-13.6 ng/mL). Median planning target volume delineated on computed tomography after matching with the magnetic resonance imaging scan was 107 cc (range, 42-158 cc). The median V100 of the prostate was 95.8% (range, 94.8-97.2). The D95 of the prostate was 38.3 Gy (range, 38.1-38.8 Gy). The constraints for the bladder, rectum, and urethra were well met. The International Prostate Symptom Scores after 3 months were stable compared with the pretreatment scores. Urinary and bowel Radiation Therapy Oncology Group symptoms were mild and within the expected levels.

This regimen of stereotactic CK monotherapy for low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer with excellent dose coverage of the prostate was well tolerated. Data collection is ongoing for further assessment of toxicity and PSA response.

Written by:
Aluwini S, van Rooij P, Hoogeman M, Bangma C, Kirkels WJ, Incrocci L, Kolkman-Deurloo IK. Are you the author?

Reference: J Endourol. 2010 Apr 30. Epub ahead of print.

PubMed Abstract
PMID: 20433370

Managing and Reducing Latency

Equinix is co-sponsoring a thought leadership series - a free series of recorded round table panels focused on technology, trends, and regulations impacting high frequency trading. Stewart Orrell, senior manager of Financial Services, is representing Equinix.

Module 1 is a discussion about "Managing and Reducing Latency." Topics include "Managing the End-to-End Latency Budget" and "New Technologies to Help Reduce Latency."

landing.equinix.com

Ramius Delivers Letter to CEO and Board of Directors of Immersion Corporation

Intends to Withhold Votes for Election of Directors at Company's 2010 Annual Meeting

Reiterates Need for Direct Shareholder Representation on the Board of Immersion

Expresses Concern With Company's Decision to Nominate David Sugishita

NEW YORK, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- RCG Starboard Advisors, LLC, a subsidiary of Ramius LLC (collectively, "Ramius"), today announced that it delivered a letter to Victor A. Viegas, Chief Executive Officer, Emily Liggett, Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, and the other members of the Board of Directors of Immersion Corporation ("Immersion" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: IMMR) reiterating its concern that the Board lacks both a vested interest in the financial performance of the Company and expertise in technology licensing and IP litigation. Ramius also expressed disappointment with the Board's decision to nominate Mr. David Sugishita for election at the 2010 Annual Meeting. Ramius beneficially owns approximately 14.6% of the common stock of Immersion.

In the letter, Ramius also questioned the Board's unwillingness to add a seventh director who possesses the attributes Ramius believes are critical to the Company's future success. Ramius also stated that it intends to withhold its votes at the upcoming 2010 Annual Meeting for the election of Mr. Sugishita, but remains open-minded about discussing solutions with the Board to address its serious concerns about Board composition.

The full text of the letter follows:

May 13, 2010
Ms. Emily Liggett (Chair, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee)
Mr. Victor Viegas (Chief Executive Officer)
Immersion Corporation
801 Fox Lane
San Jose, California 95131
CC: Immersion Corporation Board of Directors
Dear Emily and Vic:

Over the past eight months, we have repeatedly attempted to engage in meaningful discussions with you and other members of the Board of Directors (the "Board") regarding Board composition at Immersion Corporation ("IMMR" or the "Company"). RCG Starboard Advisors, LLC, a subsidiary of Ramius LLC, and certain of its affiliates (collectively, "Ramius"), is the largest shareholder of Immersion owning approximately 14.6% of the shares outstanding. Our interests are directly aligned with the interests of all shareholders in seeking to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Board. From the outset, we have been very clear that the Board lacks both a vested interest in the financial performance of Immersion and expertise in technology licensing and IP litigation. None of the existing directors of Immersion has a substantial financial stake in the Company nor has any director purchased shares of Immersion on the open market in the recent past. As of the 2010 proxy statement filed on April 29, 2010, the directors combined owned a total of just 82,084 shares outright (excluding granted stock options) This represents a mere 0.3% of the outstanding shares. Further, none of the independent directors has direct experience in technology licensing and IP litigation, a key component of Immersion's business strategy.

These two criteria are absolutely critical attributes for the Board. Yet the recent announcement that David Sugishita will replace Robert Van Naarden as a nominee for election at the 2010 Annual Meeting neither addresses the lack of technology licensing and IP litigation experience nor provides for a shareholder representative on the Board..

We have other serious concerns about the Board's decision to nominate Mr. David Sugishita for election at the 2010 Annual Meeting. While the Company claims to have conducted an independent process to identify a new, independent Board member, Mr. Sugishita clearly has direct ties to current Chairman Jack Saltich. Both Mr. Saltich and Mr. Sugishita serve on the Board of Atmel Corporation, where Mr. Sugishita serves as Chairman. Further, Mr. Saltich and Mr. Sugishita would constitute one-third of the Immersion Board. Although Atmel is a customer and partner of Immersion, Atmel also competes directly with Cypress Semiconductor, Renesas Electronics, and Synaptics Incorporated, which are also customers and partners of Immersion. We fail to see how such a high concentration of directors with ties to a single customer and partner is in the spirit of maintaining strong relationships with each of Immersion's semiconductor customers and partners.

The Board has historically been comprised of seven directors. Upon the resignation of Clent Richardson as Chief Executive Officer and in the midst of our request for Board representation, the Board unilaterally decided to reduce the number of directors by one to six. Now, the Board has decided to nominate a director with close ties to the Company's Chairman to replace Robert Van Naarden as the sixth director. It does not appear the Board is acting in good faith, and we seriously question the Board's unwillingness to add a seventh director with the attributes we believe are critical to the Company's future success.

Let us not forget that the current Board has a dismal track record of overseeing shareholder interests. As shown in the table below, Immersion shares have dramatically underperformed the market over the past three- and five-year periods. Only in the past year has the Company performed in line with the indices as it traded up from cash value following tremendous uncertainty last year during the accounting investigation that cost the Company approximately $10 million of shareholder capital.

Stock Performance (1)	IMMR	Russell 2000	IMMR vs. Russell 2000	Nasdaq	IMMR vs. Nasdaq
5-Year	(5.3%)	30.6%	(35.9%)	29.0%	(34.3%)
3-Year	(45.6%)	(9.1%)	(36.5%)	(2.1%)	(43.5%)
1-Year	46.2%	50.9%	(4.7%)	44.9%	1.3%
(1) Based on closing prices as of May 12, 2010.

Based on the performance of the Company under the existing Board and the Board's failure to nominate a truly independent director that addresses the concerns we have outlined, we will withhold our votes at the upcoming 2010 Annual Meeting for the election of Mr. Sugishita. As we have said from the outset, we remain open-minded about solutions to address our concerns about Board composition and would be happy to discuss with you and any other members of the Board at your convenience.

We remain committed to our investment in Immersion and remind the Board of its duty to serve the best interests of all shareholders.

Best Regards,
Peter A. Feld
Ramius LLC

Equinix CIO Brian Lillie on the four attributes of a strong IT leader

Equinix CIO, Brian Lillie, appears on Forbes Video Network and gives his views on "choosing a successor" and the four attributes of a strong IT leader.

http://video.forbes.com/fvn/cio/equinix-cio-brian-lillie

Tech Press Reacts to Equinix Acquisition of Switch and Data

Thanks to Web Host Industry Review and David Hamilton for the mention.

You can read the full article at this link.

Nokia Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari talks about priorities, competition, and future direction

from engadget:

>>Nokia Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari talks about priorities, competition, and future direction

Roadmap

Nokia's future roadmap is drawn around a tripartite portfolio -- you'll have S40-class f... f... featurephones (No, bad blogger! It's a smartphone!), Symbian^3 and ^4 smartphones deluxe, and MeeGo-based godzilla smartphones. We can't guarantee those particular words were used in the meeting, but the portfolio "has to be smart right across." That means a plurality of things, firstly it means that the low-end devices will not be deprived of new features, like location-aware and social networking services, but it also means "UI style innovation," which you may decode as refreshments to the grid- and list-based means by which we're used to navigating our phones today.

MeeGo seems to be viewed as the platform with the greatest potential for innovation, given its larger screen, and there were some hints that those screens are only going to expand. Further probing around Nokia tablets or netbooks was unceremoniously dismissed and it really looks like the company will be knuckling down on sorting what Marko described as "truly mobile ... not luggable" hardware. One other thing he highlighted was that touchscreen interfaces nowadays require the user to constantly look at them, whereas it's in Nokia's DNA to produce devices that can be used easily with one hand or by the blind, and he left us with a big fat mystery to ponder about how that might be achieved with vast touchscreen devices. Haptic feedback (anyone heard from Haptikos lately? We're getting worried) was not ruled out, but it seemed like Nokia might try out some audio-based interface concepts and see where things might go.

PingTone Expands at Equinix's International Business Exchange (IBX) Data Center

HERNDON, Va., May 11, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

PingTone, a market leader of hosted VoIP services to government offices and businesses today announced expansion of their current data center space at Equinix's International Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) data center in Ashburn, VA.

The Herndon-based company is expanding its current data center space in one of Equinix's newest and most advanced facilities. The expansion will provide space for PingTone's recently announced addition of the new BroadSoft BroadWorks plaftform as well as future planned network expansions.

PingTone chose Equinix's industry-leading data center services as it provides for best-of-breed physical security and power usage. PingTone's data center space is configured with robust cable distribution systems and dual AC and DC power distribution raceways, which can utilize Equinix's expansive diesel generators as back-up to dual power grid capabilities. The IBX data center is also equipped with security cameras and biometric hand geometry readers among other security features.

"PingTone provides a robust disaster recovery and reliable business continuity solution to its clients who view voice communication as mission critical to their business," said Glen Gaillard, vice president of Engineering for PingTone. "Equinix enables a critical component of that capability with multiple levels of redundancy and failover measures that no other data centers offer."

"This is PingTone's third expansion since we first came to Equinix in 2006. It's now the largest of our three data center facilities and we expect continued expansion in our footprint based on our rapid customer growth and expanding network requirements," said Bill Smedberg, President of PingTone. The company, founded in 1999, has 20,000 business customers for its business reliable, high quality Voice over Internet services.

About PingTone

PingTone provides Hosted (outsourced) Cisco IP phone systems to corporate, government and military customers in the United States and internationally. Organizations capture all the new operational advantages of Cisco VoIP technology without the complexity of managing these systems internally. Together with PingTone's global PSTN management, hosted VoIP service includes unified messaging, branch office 4-digit dialing and advanced call routing functions. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in Northern Virginia. For more information about PingTone Communications and this release, contact John Adams, VP of Sales & Marketing, 703-621-6300.

IPC extends collaboration with Equinix

from Automated trader:

>>IPC extends collaboration with Equinix

IPC Systems has announced that it has extended its affiliation with data centre services company Equinix to support demand for IPC's portfolio of Electronic Connectivity Services (ECS). Equinix already hosts IPC's core network infrastructure at three of its International Business Exchange data centres in Chicago, New York and Hong Kong. As part of the collaboration between the two organisations, IPC will extend its deployment with Equinix during 2010, adding locations in the UK and Singapore.

Brigantine Advisors Reiterates a 'Buy' on Equinix (EQIX)

from StreetInsider.com:

>>Brigantine Advisors Reiterates a 'Buy' on Equinix (EQIX)

Brigantine Advisors reiterates a 'Buy' rating on Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX), raises price target from $130 to $137.

Brigantine analyst says, "We believe the acquisition of Switch and Data will integrate rather smoothly as the combination will form a powerful and global data center offering. With SDXC’s data centers only 65% utilized, we believe EQIX will be able to offer more data center space in areas which are currently capacity constrained."