The Houston Chronicle – Feb 20, 2009

Houston-based CyrusOne is expanding its data centers in Houston and Dallas to handle demand from customers opting to house servers, storage and network equipment at its facilities.

“Over the past three years, we have seen the largest companies in the world now adopt this model instead of building their own data centers,” said David Ferdman, president and chief executive officer of CyrusOne.

The privately held company is more than doubling its Lewisville facility near Dallas to a total of 161,000 square feet. In Houston, it has added two data halls totaling 25,000 square feet in its 125,000-square-foot campus at 4201 Southwest Freeway. It has a second Houston location in the Greenspoint area.

The company provides data services for more than 200 customers at five facilities in Houston and the Dallas area with a total of about 310,000 square feet. Its clients include major energy, health care and financial services companies. Firms choose to use the services offered by companies such as CyrusOne because the capital outlay for building a data center from the ground up can cost $4 million or more.

CyrusOne owns buildings that have been reinforced to sustain hurricane-force winds. On the inside, mechanical and electrical systems have been upgraded to support server installations that use up to 1,000 watts of power per square foot. Backup generators and redundant components such as two sets of switch gear and two power sources are used to avoid a loss in service. Equipment is housed in wire cages to allow air to circulate through, while biometric devices, electronic card readers, bulletproof glass and man traps are part of the security package.

Founded in 2000, CyrusOne has grown about 60 percent per year over the past five years. The company was recently acquired by ABRY Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm.

“Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen just this huge explosion in the dependence on technology,” Ferdman said. “As you’ve seen that grow, CyrusOne has seen a huge increase in demand for our specialty service.”