Global Crossing Expands in London, Miami

Global Crossing (GLBC) today said it will open a hosting data center in London and relocate its data center operations in the Miami area. The company also named Gabriel del Campo as Global Crossing's new vice president of global data center product management. del Campo had been manages the company's incumbent data center business in Latin America.

"This expansion aims to capitalize on the rising demand for data center services, where supply has become increasingly scarce across Europe, and to accommodate the needs of U.S. businesses seeking connectivity to the Latin American region," said John Legere, Global Crossing's chief executive officer. "Our existing hosting infrastructure is world class. It's imperative to Global Crossing's customers that we enhance and expand this valuable capability."

Global Crossing cited findings by Gartner that high-demand markets like London will run out of space by the end of the decade if significant new data center space is brought online.

"The general improvement in business conditions is causing organizations to come back to the data center market with greater overall demand than has been seen in recent years," said Scott Morrison, research director at Gartner. "The increase in demand for data center services is being driven primarily by internal enterprise requirements, including the growth in content-rich applications, data storage needs and virtualization. These are more robust indicators for positive mid-term growth in the industry than the supply-led expansion of Web-facing solutions in the dot-com era."

The new 7,000 square foot Miami data center offers expansion space for customers previously housed in a former Impsat facility in Fort Lauderdale. Fla. Global Crossing acquired Impsat last year.

"Global Crossing's hosting business is focused on addressing enterprises' increasing demand for integrated Information Communications Technology solutions," said del Campo. "We recognize the enterprise market's need for converged services that go beyond data, video and voice integration, to integrate and combine IT services with telecommunications, Internet, security and VoIP."

Global Crossing's data center network includes facilities in 60 major cities worldwide, serving approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500, as well as 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs.