Roundup: i/o Data Centers, Microsoft, HP, Phoenix NAP

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s headlines from the data center and hosting industry:

i/o Data Centers Appoints CFO. i/o Data Centers announced the appointment of Jonathan Mauck as Chief Financial Officer. Mauck was previously the Global Head of the Communications Infrastructure team at Citigroup's Investment Banking Division where he advised technology and telecom companies and raised over $20 billion in capital. "Jon Mauck is an extraordinary talent in the data center industry," said George D. Slessman, CEO of i/o. "His proven financial discipline and ability to access the capital markets fits well with our commitment to grow with our customers as their IT energy and data center services needs grow."

Phoenix NAP and Datalink partner. Phoenix NAP and Datalink announced a strategic partnership to meet the growing needs for disaster recovery and business continuity services. "While Phoenix NAP is designed to meet the physical requirements of a disaster recovery location, effective and robust disaster recovery and business continuity solutions necessitate other areas of expertise, and we are thrilled to have an industry leader like Datalink as a strategic partner to offer them,” said Ian McClarty, president of Phoenix NAP.  Minnesota based Datalink offers disaster recovery and business continuity solutions to mid and large-size enterprises.

Microsoft and HP partner for Azure appliance. Microsoft (MSFT) and HP announced their intention to work together on a Microsoft Windows Azure platform appliance that will enable large enterprise customers to confidently and rapidly adopt cloud-based applications as business needs change and grow.   A complete solution will include hardware, software and sourcing components and allow appliance management with HP Converged Infrastructure on-premises or through HP data center hosting services. “Customers want to refocus their resources in managing their business and out-task IT processes like software acquisition and maintenance,” said Sean Kenny, senior vice president, Worldwide Applications and Business Process Outsourcing, HP Enterprise Services. “HP is the only technology company that can combine the Windows Azure platform with the industry’s best people, processes and Converged Infrastructure technology to remove the complexity of migrating applications to the cloud.”