iWeb Plans Fourth Data Center

Hosting and IT infrastructure provider iWeb has announced plans for a new 31,000 square foot data center, in the LaSalle borough in western Montreal. The facility will add capacity to host 20,000 dedicated servers, bringing iWeb's total dedicated server capacity to nearly 35,000 servers.

"Automation is one of the company’s priorities in 2010, (and) the new data center will be built with automation in mind, " said Cyrille Mertes, iWeb’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). "Because we are essentially building a new center, we can design it according to current standards with no restrictions due to previous technologies already installed."

iWeb has signed a 30-year lease agreement on the building, with options to purchase at regular intervals. The company will invest $3 million to adapt the facility for data center use, and has recently finalized a financing agreement with one of its primary financial partners.

The first phase, scheduled to be brought online in April, the data center will initially have the capacity to host 3,000 servers. The new data center, like iWeb’s three current IP hosting facilities, will feature a redundant electrical system which will be entirely run through uninterrupted power systems (UPS), diesel-powered generators and a ventilation and cooling infrastructure.

iWeb manages 59,000 square feet of space in its three existing operation centers (see its web site for details. Founded in 1996 in Montreal, iWeb offers web hosting, dedicated servers and colocation to 20,000 customers in 145 countries. The company now generates more than 60 percent of its revenues from abroad. iWeb’s shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V: IWB);