Switch and Data

Switch and Data Facilities Company, Inc. was a U.S. public corporation that provided network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services to network-centric businesses. Switch and Data was acquired by Equinix in 2010.

Switch and Data provided services including colocation, interconnection, network connectivity and peering from 34 data center locations. Typically, customers looked to Switch and Data to add scale and interconnectivity to their networks to support increases in IP and network traffic volumes. In addition, customers used Switch and Data’s data center facilities to house and power their network infrastructure.

In 2008 Switch and Data expanded by adding over a quarter million square feet of data center capacity, an increase of 34% of their total capacity. Before their purchase by Equinix, Switch and Data’s footprint included 23 markets throughout U.S. and Canada and provides power and cooling densities of up to 200 watts per square foot to more than 900 customers. In 2009, the company had announced a $75 million capex budget for further expansion. Switch and Data previously launched their Content and Entertainment and Financial Services Practices to help these industries with low-latency data aggregation and distribution.

Switch and Data was founded in 1998 by James F. Lavin and Stephen Kelly. In March 2003, Switch and Data acquired PAIX, the world’s first commercial Internet peering exchange. The PAIX acquisition gave Switch and Data and strong presence in global Internet peering and added some of the world’s leading Internet content and service providers as customers. Between 2004 and 2005, Switch and Data purchased RACO, Meridian Telesis and LayerOne. The company completed an initial public offering of its stock on February 8, 2007, and is currently traded on the NASDAQ exchange under ticker symbol SDXC. Switch and Data is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.