New Texas facility to accommodate expansion of its colocation services, along with its private racks and Planet Northstar Managed Hosting services.

The Planet, a privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced plans for a new environmentally friendly 86,000 square foot data center in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. The company states that this facility, which will use modular cooling technology from Turbine Air Systems, will accommodate expansion of its colocation services, along with its private racks and Planet Northstar Managed Hosting services. The new operation – its seventh data center – will bring its total data center raised floor footprint to 214,500 square feet, it claims.

The company explains that it plans to immediately begin colocation pre-leasing on the first 12,000 square feet, which will accommodate approximately 8,000 servers. The new data center will open in May 2009 and meet the same SAS 70 Type II qualifications of its existing six facilities.

"We have a long and successful track record in providing colocation services, and continue to receive significant interest from customers looking either to expand their core IT infrastructure or to supplement their operations," said The Planet's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin.  "Dallas ranks as one of the nation's top five colocation markets based on its connectivity, central location and the availability of its skilled workforce. With the current shortage of colocation space that offers robust power density, we expect substantial interest in our new highly efficient facilities."

"Despite today's difficult economic environment, which provides its own set of challenges, we believe there is an extraordinary market opportunity," Erwin continued. "Over the past two years we have aggressively expanded our footprint, with considerable strategic investments in our core infrastructure and product portfolio. Our broad spectrum of services offers customers the power to choose precisely what they need, combined with our world-class network and data centers. With the downturn, companies are looking to reduce IT costs, and The Planet's hosted model offers a 75 percent cost savings compared with the do-it-yourself alternative. Finally, we continue to have a very strong balance sheet. Our recent $45 million credit facility underscores the stability of our business and augments our ability to execute on our growth plans."