International News: Fujitsu, Level 3, Tata, Interxion

Here’s our review of some of this week’s noteworthy links for the global data center industry:

Fujitsu Invests $60 Million for Australia Upgrade. Fujitsu announced a $60 million upgrade to its Melbourne data center, located at Noble Park, Victoria. The upgrade focused on security, connectivity and availability enhancements to provide its 2,000 Australian enterprise and government customers with increased access to secure hosting services. Originally opened in 1988, the 6,700 square meter (72,118 square foot) facility aimed upgrades at Tier III standards. "In the last few years Fujitsu has made significant local investments in new technology areas including data centres, cloud services, application development and managed services," said Mike Foster, Chief Executive Officer of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand. "We will continue to invest in ensuring that our customers have access to the best possible infrastructure in the region. The Noble Park upgrade is consistent with this strategy. The facility makes a key contribution to Fujitsu’s global data centre capability, which includes over 100 data centres worldwide.“

Level 3 Expands in Latin America.  Level 3 Communications (LVLT) announced it has expanded its data center capacity in Latin America in response to significant growth in customer demand. New infrastructure capacity, dedicated customer equipment and shared services technology provide key enhancements for the expansion of Level 3's 14 data centers in the region, with substantial expansions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.  Additionally the company will add new hosting and storage services, increase backup and storage capacity, and incorporate network, security, and storage management tools. "Level 3's objective is to enhance its customers' efficiency, security and growth by providing information and communication technologies services that help them reach their goals," said Gabriel del Campo, Level 3's senior vice president of Data Centers for Latin America & Caribbean. "This is why we continue to expand our infrastructure, incorporate new services, improve our processes, and train our employees to enable next generation, high quality solutions that meet our customers' needs and expectations."

Tata to Become Anchor Tenant on US-Brazil cable.  Tata Communications and Seaborn Networks, the developer and operator of the first direct submarine cable between the United States and Sao Paulo, Brazil, announced Tata Communications' intent to become an anchor tenant customer on Seaborn Networks' cable system. Seaborn Network’s cable system, Seabras-1, will enable Tata Communications to provide fully integrated network services from Brazil to its networks in the US, Europe, Africa, Asia and India. As Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, the country is experiencing landmark development requirements in its telecommunications industry. "Latin America is a key region on the world stage and our plan to purchase capacity on Seabras-1 would ensure we have the fastest route between Brazil’s major commercial centre and the US. It aligns us with the most viable new subsea project in one of the fastest growing markets in the world", says Vinod Kumar, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Communications. "This expansion would further extend the global reach of the Tata Global Network (TGN) and forms part of our strategic global connectivity plans."

Interxion selected by VPS.net.  Interxion (INXN)  announced that VPS.net, part of the UK2 Group and a global leader in cloud hosting, has chosen to host its cloud services for France and Germany in Interxion’s data centers in Paris and Frankfurt . Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider VPS.net needed to scale quickly and engage with each new market and looked to Interxion's strong European presence to help it navigate the commercial differences and varying rules, regulations, and laws that are inherent in doing business across Europe. "By working with Interxion, we gain access to valuable expertise, top-class facilities, and comprehensive support," said Rus Foster, Managing Director, VPS.net.  "Thanks to Interxion’s local knowledge, we’ve gained a valuable understanding of customer mind-sets in these markets, and that has helped us ramp up operations in just three weeks. Interxion delivers real value-add through the community of other providers and like-minded companies it can put us in touch with.”