Houston Provider StratITsphere Sells Retail Colo Business to Alpheus

Texas connectivity service provider Alpheus has acquired the retail colocation business of data center provider StratITsphere, which said it would focus on wholesale deals larger than 5,000 square feet. The companies also formed a strategic partnership that includes a long-term lease of data center space in Houston’s "energy corridor."

StratITsphere will continue to operate its 93,000-square-foot data center in Katy, Texas, and Alpheus will take over about 12,000 square feet for retail colocation. StratITsphere serves the energy industry, particularly oil and gas, pipeline, refining, power, utilities and energy and commodities trading firms. It has several large energy-sector clients in Houston.

Alpheus gains a retail colocation offering strategically close to downtown Houston. The company has filled two existing Houston locations and needs additional space to meet demand, Apheus CEO Scott Widham said.

“StratITsphere’s data center is uniquely designed to provide customers like Alpheus with a differentiated product in the Houston market,” Darin Cook, CEO of StratITsphere, said. “The partnership with Alpheus allows us to focus on wholesale customers needing greater than 5,000 square feet of data center space.”

The new data center is connected to Alpheus’ deep metro fiber footprint in Texas, serving some fast growing markets, including Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

Houston is a competitive market. It is a historic hub for both CyrusOne and SoftLayer (now IBM) and home to about 30 data centers. It has gained a new wholesale provider, Skybox, which recently broke ground on a new data center build.

Despite healthy competition, market watchers say supply is tight, and the large footprints of recent deals in the energy sector suggest continuing demand. According to a recent estimate by wholesale data center provider Digital Realty Trust, there was less than 10 megawatts of capacity available in the Houston market as of the end of the second quarter, but more than 20 megawatts of capacity was under construction.