Roundup: The Planet, Dell, Juniper, Cisco

The Planet Reports Third Quarter Results. Hosting company The Planet discussed results for the third quarter of 2009 Tuesday. “Our performance this quarter provides cautious optimism about an emerging economic turn-around, with indicators moving in the right direction," said Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin said. "Our business experienced an upturn with new, more complex transactions and a healthier, more robust pipeline of opportunities than we’ve seen during the past three years." Highlights of the quarter included a new partner plus channel program, hiring CAPSTAR commercial real estate to lease Dallas space, and joining the Microsoft BizSpark program.

Juniper and Dell Collaborate.  Juniper Networks (JNPR) has had a flury of news lately, with an announcement Tuesday that it will collaborate with Dell to offer networking solutions under Dell's PowerConnect brand.  Additionally the two companies plan to work on open, standards-based solutions for virtualized data centers and deliver technology solutions using Converged Enhanced Ethernet.  Dell plans to market, service and support Juniper's high-performance networking solutions to its large enterprise, small and medium business customers and public organizations.  Juniper also announced that Australian Government superannuation administrator ComSuper has selected Juniper Networks to implement a completely new network infrastructure based on Juniper's EX Series ethernet switches and Unified Access Control solution.  A third announcement Tuesday reported that Juniper's executive and management team will ring the NYSE opening bell on Thursday, October 29th.

Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire ScanSafe. Continuing the ramp-up in acquisitions, Cisco announced the intent to acquire Software-as-a-Service security provider ScanSafe.  Building on the previous acquisition of IronPort, Cisco is building on the web security market, which is expected to grow to $2.3 billion by 2012.  ScanSafe's service will be integrated with Cisco AnyConnect VPN client and will allow Cisco to provide new cloud-security services for customers anywhere in the world.

Switch and Data Third Quarter 2009 Results. Tuesday Switch and Data released financial and operating results for the quarter ending September 30, 2009.  The press release addresses the merger with Equinix as "subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of Switch and Data's stockholders and regulatory approvals."  Total revenues for the quarter increased 21.4% to $53.5 million from $44.1 million in the comparable period in 2008.  Operating income increased 50.5% to $21.0 million in the third quarter of 2009 as compared to $3.8 million in the comparable period in 2008.  Net income was $2.6 million, with earnings per share at $0.07 per basic and diluted share.  The number of customers went from 988 in 2008 to 935 in in 2009 and cabinet equivalents billed of 8,110 in 2008 compared to 7,347 in 2009.