Roundup: OVH.com, Equinix, QTS

Here’s our review of today’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

OVH.com to build data center in Quebec.  European hosting company OVH.com announced it is beginning work on its first data center in North America.  The new data centre in Québec represents the first major stage for the independent French company into the North American market. OVH.com is one of the largest web hosting companies in the world, managing over 100,000 servers. The company is also known for their innovative data center design, such as the cube-shaped building in Roubaix, France where the building is treated like an air handler. OVH.com will continue the focus on ecological data centers with the Quebec facility, located in the city of Beauharnois. One hundred jobs will be created on the Beauharnois site and in the company's Montréal offices. The company expects to house 360,000 servers in the new data center.

Equinix renews Reality Check Network.  Equinix (EQIX) announced that managed hosting provider Reality Check Network will continue to leverage its presence within the Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX) data centers to deliver high-end managed hosting services including virtualization, storage, load balancing, VPN and CDN. As part of Equinix’s ecosystem of more than 800 cloud and IT service providers, Reality Check Network offers managed hosting solutions and powerful dedicated servers that are backed by network, server, and application support. “At Reality Check Network, our number one goal is to ensure 100 percent uptime for our customers.  In order to achieve that, it is crucial that our data center service provider offer the stability, security and compliance necessary for us to follow through on that promise,” said Ben Uretsky, CEO of Reality Check Network.  “We specifically chose to work with Equinix because of the company’s superior stability and scalability.  In the many years we have been with Equinix, we have never experienced any outages.  In addition, the company’s unparalleled network connectivity enables us to reach any network provider within the Equinix ecosystem.  Equinix also has the global reach we need as we expand our business both nationally and worldwide.”

QTS transitions SAS 70 to SSAE 16. Quality Technology Services (QTS) announced that all of the company's data centers previously certified by the Statement on Auditing Standards number 70 (SAS 70) audit program have  successfully transitioned to Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE 16). Individual, independent SSAE 16 Type II audits were performed at facilities in Atlanta, Ga.; Miami, Fla.; New York, NY; Jersey City, NJ; Overland Park, Kan. and Suwanee, Ga., as well as both data centers on QTS' Santa Clara, Calif. campus for calendar year 2011. "Our transition from the SAS 70 program to SSAE 16 is an evolution that mirrors the expanding assurance needs of QTS management, our customers and their external auditors," said Darryl Cox, director of audit at QTS. "The transition to SSAE 16 will benefit QTS' customers by further detailing and clarifying the important role that our audit and control team plays in supporting our customers' risk management activities."