Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Internet services company FirstWorld Communications Inc. has opened a 50,000-square-foot data center in Irvine, the latest in a spate of similar facilities opening across Orange County.
The center is set to offer an assortment of Internet services for FirstWorld’s local customer base, including Web hosting and renting out space to house customers’ computer equipment, also known as co-location services.
Company officials say the facility will house operations moved from its soon-to-be-closed Santa Ana center and make room for about 40 additional workers, bringing the firm’s total number of OC-area workers to more than 100.
The 7-year-old company, which employs more than 800 nationally, began as a supplier of fiber optic materials but in 1997 branched out to become an Internet access provider. In the process, the company acquired a handful of companies that took it into computerized telephone services, and services that help companies integrate the Internet into their corporate computer systems.
FirstWorld is in the process of selling off those operations and focusing on the data-center services.
About half of the Irvine facility is operational now and the remainder is scheduled to come on line as more customers sign on. Company officials say they had pre-sold 17% of the center’s capacity when it opened.
FirstWorld officials said the newest facility will complement its other California centers in San Diego, Glendale and Santa Clara.
“California is a key market for us,” said David Gandini, FirstWorld’s chief operating officer. The company is suffering an all-time stock low at around 2 per share, a steep decline from its first-week closing of more than 38 3/4 per share last spring. It has reported 155.6 million in losses on sales of 72 million for the four most recent quarters.
Dot-coms might be on the decline, but companies that support the sector are mushrooming.
The area’s thriving tech industry and the rush of old-line businesses seeking to modernize their operations have brought more than a dozen data centers to Irvine and other parts of Orange County in the past year. The facilities house computers in highly secure cages that include climate control, backup power, high-speed data lines and constant monitoring.
The Irvine facility is FirstWorld’s ninth data-center, with another scheduled to open in October.
Epoch Internet Inc. of Costa Mesa, Denver-based Inflow, Santa Clara-based Exodus Communications Inc. and Time Warner Telecom are a few of the companies that have located data centers in Orange County this year.
The Irvine Spectrum, Parker Properties’ Summit Office Complex in Aliso Viejo, and the Irvine Business Complex near John Wayne Airport are some of the most popular spots in for such facilities. n
