Two More Data Centers for Equinix

Datacenter operator Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) announced another stage in its expansion program, planning two new data centers.  In the Washington DC area (Ashburn) they will add a 152,000 square foot facility that they will be referring to as DC6.  The new facility will cost around $100M overall, $30M in capex during 2009.  In Silicon Valley, they will add a 170,000 square foot facility that will go by the name SV5.  That one will cost $145M overall, with the first stage being $100M and of that $30M in capex during 2009.

Lots of money to spend, but Equinix remains in the enviable position of being able to fund much of its expansion from the cashflow its operations generate – which means they can borrow it too should they want to.  Demand just keeps on growing and they just keep on building, and given the construction slowdown elsewhere in the sector they will probably gain marketshare over time.  Of course, it’s not an empty field – there are other projects going on.  Internap Network Services (NASDAQ:INAP, news, filings) is expanding its colocation footprint and sdxc borrowed money yesterday to do the same.   Everybody grab a hammer, let’s raise a few barns… err I mean data centers.

So when do the marketing guys get to start naming these things, anyway?  DC6?  Isn’t that an old airplane model, later replaced by the DC-8 and then the DC-10?  Both of which are of course likely to become the names of Equinix data centers themselves someday!?  Reminds me of Johnny Depp’s line in Pirates of the Carribean:

Jack Sparrow: You know, for all that pirates are clever-called, we are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things.
Gibbs: Like?
Jack Sparrow: I once sailed with a geezer lost both his arms and part of his eye.
Gibbs: What did you call him?
Jack Sparrow: … Larry.

Nevermind…

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Categories: Datacenter