Peak 10 + ViaWest Acquires Data Center in Philadelphia Market

Peak 10 + ViaWest is continuing to expand into new markets, pushing further into the Northeast with the acquisition of a data center in Collegeville, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. The company said Friday that it has acquired a 203,000 square foot data center from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline plc, along with 25 acres of property.

The transaction extends the deal-driven growth at Peak 10 + ViaWest, a colocation and managed services provider that initially focused on local markets in the Southeast, but has built a national footprint with its $1.7 billion acquisition of ViaWest in June.

With the acquisition, Peak 10 + ViaWest now operates 41 data centers in 21 markets, with more than 3 million square feet of IT space. The new facility will significantly expand the company’s data center footprint in the northeast region, which also includes an existing cloud node and advanced engineering team in Allentown, Pa.

“For some time now we have sought to further expand in the northeast, and this facility met our stringent criteria in a way that no others had,” said Chris Downie, CEO for Peak 10 + ViaWest. “We are very excited to bring our customer-first culture – and the capabilities of our national data center platform and connectivity solutions – to the region.”

GSK Continues as Tenant

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will continue to run its existing IT operations in the Collegeville facility, continuing in place as a customer of Peak 10 + ViaWest, which has more than 400  healthcare customers, demonstrating the company’s position as a trusted IT partner to the healthcare industry.

“This partnership provides continuity for our employees, while also allowing Peak 10 + ViaWest to expand its footprint into a strategic market,” said Bill Trifaro, Director of Data Center Operations and Facilities at GSK. “We’re proud of our team’s efforts to build and maintain this world class facility, and we know that Peak 10 + ViaWest customers will be delighted to join us at this location.”

The facility will provide Peak 10 + ViaWest with significant additional capacity for customer growth beyond the GSK deployment.

“As with many of our properties across the country we will look to maximize the available capacity on the site,” said Downie. “With 25 acres, we believe we can double the capacity at a minimum. Based on customer demand for the geography and the site specifically, we expect to begin planning additional expansion sooner vs later.”

The facility has redundant power, fiber feeds, and enhanced site security. It boasts 2N+1 redundancy and the ability to provide a range of densities to meet the needs of Peak 10 + ViaWest customers. It will also be a hub on the company’s recently announced 100 Gigabit nationwide backbone fiber network. The facility has substantial interconnection capabilities from several communications carriers, and the company plans to increase access to more than 80 network carriers.

The Philadelphia Data Center Market

The new facility allows Peak + ViaWest to compete for data center requirements in the greater Philadelphia market, as Collegeville is about 30 miles outside Philadelphia, compared to 60 miles for the Allentown location, which ViaWest gained through its 2015 acquisition of iNetU.

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The Philadelphia data center market includes both downtown and suburban facilities. The city’s primary carrier hotel is 401 North Broad Street, which is owned by Netrality Properties. Philly’s largest data center service provider is SunGard Availability Services, which operates 700,000 square feet of space between 401 North Broad and 1500 Spring Garden Street. Equinix, Level 3 and zColo also have a presence at 401 North Broad, while vXchnge and 365 Data Centers operate at other telecom buildings in downtown. TierPoint operates a 25,000 square foot data center at the Philadelphia Naval Yards, as well as facilities in Conshohocken and Bethlehem, Pa. Further north, Keystone NAP operates a facility in Falls Township.

Peak 10 + ViaWest is now owned by private equity firm GI Partners, and is pursuing a growth strategy that will add scale and a national footprint.

“We remain committed to growing our company by investing capital that supports our customers’ expanding and increasingly complex IT, colocation and connectivity needs,” said Downie. “With these ongoing investments, our customers will continue to benefit from increased scale, a coast-to-coast data center presence and a comprehensive and robust suite of IT solutions.”