Responding to growing customer demand for proximity hosting and internet infrastructure services, along with low latency connectivity to major financial exchanges, Savvis (NASDAQ:SVVS) today announced plans for a significant expansion to its flagship financial services hosting facility, Savvis NJ2, in Weehawken, N.J.
The expanded facility, Savvis NJ2X, combined with Savvis NJ2, creates a powerful financial data center complex that extends Savvis' footprint in the highest demand market for its services, the New York-New Jersey financial hub.
Savvis has completed a transaction to lease space adjacent to Savvis NJ2 that will directly connect via fiber and yield approximately 105,000 square feet of raised floor for the deployment of high-performance hosting and low latency financial exchange connectivity for the financial services industry.
The expansion enables customers to expand their current offerings and for Savvis to attract new customers. Along with Proximity Hosting solutions, the expanded facility will offer customers the opportunity to utilize other Savvis services designed specifically for the financial community, including web solutions, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing.
"The demand in the marketplace for financial IT infrastructure continues to grow as companies outsource to trusted providers," said Phil Koen, Chief Executive Officer of Savvis. "Today's news creates a strong financial data center complex with two of our state-of-the-art facilities making Savvis the destination of choice for financial services companies."
Initial plans call for:
* Approximately 35,000 square feet of raised floor that is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2010
* Expansion potential for an additional 70,000 square feet of raised floor
* A direct connection between buildings, which will allow customers to host trading applications to several liquidity centers via Savvis Proximity Hosting solutions
* Four floors, with the second floor build-out occurring in 2009. An expected limited capital investment of $10 million in 2009, within the range of current company guidance for the full year, and $12 million in 2010
The new data center complex is in response to the continued market demand for hosting services. Gartner estimates the current market for hosting services will grow from $46.4 billion in 2009 to reach $150.1 billion in 2013 (Gartner s Forecast: Sizing the Cloud; Understanding the Opportunities in Cloud Services, published March 18, 2009.)
Separately, Savvis (NASDAQ:SVVS), a global leader in outsourced internet infrastructure services for the enterprise, today announced that Credit Suisse AES Crossfinder is being hosted in the company's NJ2 data center in Weehawken, NJ. AES Crossfinder will leverage Savvis' hosting and storage services, including its low latency Proximity hosting solution, along with low latency exchange connectivity via Savvis' private, managed global financial network.
Dark pools, such as AES Crossfinder enhance trading speed, capacity and reliability for their customers. For the month of May, AES Crossfinder was the largest U.S.-based dark pool in terms of volume.**
"We're very pleased to continue to expand our financial services leadership with the addition of Credit Suisse AES Crossfinder," said Varghese Thomas, Vice President of Financial Services for Savvis. "The addition of a high-volume customer like AES Crossfinder further demonstrates the benefits Savvis has seen as a result of its investment in the financial IT infrastructures that deliver a wide variety of low latency connectivity to the world's leading exchanges."
"Credit Suisse recognizes the importance of the IT infrastructure underlying key services such as AES Crossfinder," said Dmitri Galinov, Director and AES Head of Liquidity Strategy, Credit Suisse. "We are confident that Savvis will deploy a cost-effective infrastructure that will provide us with the low latency solutions that our customers are demanding, allowing us to focus on core competencies and differentiate our offering in the market place."
According to Rosenblatt Securities, a leader in dark pool and global exchange analysis, dark pools have grown dramatically over the past two years. As a group they executed 8.57 percent of all U.S. equity volume in May, up from approximately 5.00 percent at the beginning of 2008.
** Source: Rosenblatt Securities Inc. Monthly Dark Liquidity Tracker published June 29, 2009