Qwest Opens Seattle Data Center

Qwest Communications (Q) has opened a new "CyberCenter" in the Seattle area to provide hosting services to businesses, the company said this week. With the opening of the new data center, Qwest now operates 14 CyberCenters nationwide. New tenants in the center include Alaska Airlines.

"We are seeing a significant increase in the demand for Qwest managed hosting solutions, and the new Qwest CyberCenter will allow Qwest to expand the number of customers we can serve with leading broadband applications and network services," said Dan Yost, executive vice president of product and marketing at Qwest. "Opening the newest facility in Seattle demonstrates Qwest's continued success in the hosting arena and our ongoing commitment to providing the most comprehensive and secure solutions available."

It's interesting to see Qwest building additional data centers, as the company's hosting unit experienced the full rollercoaster ride back in the dot-com boom. Qwest expanded vigorously, building 50,000 to 90,000 square foot Cybercenters in most major markets. At one time Qwest planned to build as many as 42 CyberCenters, funded partly by a $5 billion strategic alliance with IBM. But in late 2002 the company consolidated its network, shutting eight of its 16 data centers.

Qwest uses the CyberCenters to offer colocation, storage management and business protection services, as well as connectivity to Qwest's coast-to-coast network backbone. The 14 Qwest CyberCenters are located in 11 metropolitan areas, including Burbank, Calif.; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Denver; Minneapolis; Newark, N.J.; Sacramento, Calif.; Seattle; Sterling, Va.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; and Tampa, Fla.

Qwest says its CyberCenters can house more than three million feet of data cable and fiber optics, providing the extensive infrastructure features necessary to maintain a customer's environment. Cooling towers, water pumps and chillers provide enough cooling capacity to air-condition the equivalent of approximately 1,820 private homes. With 19.5 mega-watts of emergency power to ensure network operations, Qwest CyberCenters generate enough power for approximately 5,000 households. The company offers a video tour of one of its facilities on its web site.