SoftLayer in $16M Deal for Space at Internap

Fast-growing Dallas hosting company SoftLayer will expand its infrastructure by leasing space at a Seattle area data center operated by Internap Network Services (INAP), the companies said today. The additional space in Internap's facility in Tukwila, Wash. will allow SoftLayer to add 10,000 servers to host a new utility computing platform that will launch next month. The lease is part of a five-year, $16 million contract in which Internap will also supply network services in SoftLayer's Dallas and Seattle centers.

SoftLayer, which is based at the Infomart carrier hotel in Dallas, has been one of the fastest-growing hosting providers over the past year. The company launched in 2005 with an innovative "network-in-a-network" design that provides bandwidth to support hosted applications, server-to-server file transfers, load balancing and disaster recovery services.

"SoftLayer's unique solutions strategy is fueling their exponential growth," said James P. DeBlasio, chief executive officer at Internap. "They needed a network and data center partner they could trust to grow with them and we are pleased they selected Internap. This 5-year $16 million contract for network services and data center space enables SoftLayer's innovative hosting solution today and is the platform to support their future growth."

"We have used Internap's IP network service in our Dallas facility for the past two years and are excited to expand our Internap network services and add Internap's high-quality data center and management services as part of our hosting solution." said Sean Charnock, vice president of business development at SoftLayer. "We view Internap as a strategic partner as we continue our exponential growth pattern through 2008 and beyond."

Internap's route-optimization technology provides a high-performance solution for SoftLayer's utility hosting solution, which will use two 10-gigabit circuits from Internap in the company's Seattle data center in addition to the 10-gigabit circuit already installed at SoftLayer's Dallas data center. SoftLayer customers will also have access to Internap's content delivery services.