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Are Philly data centers 'woefully inadequate'?

vXchange to build another

Claiming that "existing data centers in Philadelphia are woefully inadequate for today's cloud and network application businesses," vXchnge, Tampa, Fla., says it plans to build a 70,000 sq ft "state of the art" data center at 1500 Spring Garden St., the former Smith Kline pill factory that is already a major data site for Wayne-based SunGard Availability.

vXchange says it will seek clients from the region's "dense concentration of healthcare, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and financial services firms" with "high-density cabinets and advanced cooling capabilities" to support "cloud and network application businessees." CEO is Keith Olsen, an AT&T veteran. Other vXchange bosses include former Unisys executives Charles Browning and Ernie Sampera.

Existing data centers in the area include the Navy Yard data center (Philadelphia Technology Park) sold to St. Louis-based TierPoint last month; Digital Realty's 655,000 sq ft facility at 833 Chestnut St. (ex-Gimbel's department store tower); ex-1500 Spring Garden owner Amerimar Enterprises' ex-Packard Motor Car factory at 401 N. Broad St. (home to other Sungard Availability operations, and recent subject of a $70 million upgrade); SteelORCA's $650 million upgrade of an ex-Pfizer site near Princeton, the Citi and JPMorgan data centers near Wilmington; and others.