Rhapsody Opens New Data Center in Seattle

The Rhapsody digital music service has moved its primary data center to new expansion space at Internap Network Services (INAP) near Seattle, the company said today. In addition to colocating Rhapsody's servers, the Internap facility will optimize the IP network performance for delivering Rhapsody's catalog of more than ten million music tracks to its subscribers.

"As part of our transformation to an independent company, the decision around where to colocate our data center infrastructure was paramount," said Paul Vandegrift, director of partner and vendor management at Rhapsody. "Internap provides all of the critical elements we are looking for – including an eco-conscious approach that aligns with our own corporate green standards. They also offer a highly reliable IP network that delivers an optimal subscriber experience through rapid, constant access to our comprehensive music library. Solving latency is critical to our business model, and Internap's solution gives us peace of mind."

Internap recently added 7,500 square feet of space in its colocation center located on the Sabey Intergate campus in Tukwila, marking the third expansion of the facility and bringing it to a total of 20,000 square feet. The expanded facility incorporates improvements in energy efficiency and best practices, including roof-top cooling units, high-efficiency lighting and ultrasonic humidification technology.

Rhapsody provides customers with on-demand access to millions of songs across a range of devices, including PCs, mobile phones, MP3 players and Internet-connected TVs. The company will use Internap's Performance IP network, which uses patented Managed Internet Route Optimizer (MIRO) technology to analyze network performance characteristics and deliver traffic over the fastest possible route.

"With richer business applications and operations moving to the Internet, latency and network performance become the critical path to business performance, transparency and ROI," said Scott Hrastar, SVP of IP services at Internap. "MIRO delivers these benefits by ensuring the highest possible availability and performance for companies such as Rhapsody."