A few years back a company called Allied Fiber (News - Alert) set out to build a nationwide dark fiber network in an effort to bring more affordable and efficient fiber to a variety of customers. The New York-based company is selling dark fiber and neutral colocation along various railroad rights of way around the United States.
Now iM, a Miami-based firm, which today has three data centers in the U.S. and one in the U.K., has an agreement to build 31 modular colocation facilities for Allied Fiber along the Allied Fiber route. The dark fiber provider tapped iM to provide their design, build and installation expertise for these 1,200-square-foot colocation facilities.
These colocation facilities for Allied Fiber – which will serve as major regional points of interconnection for carriers – are expected to be installed approximately every 60 miles along the fiber backbone owned by Allied Fiber.
Michael Roark, CEO of iM Companies, tells INTERNET TELEPHONY that the company as of mid-March had completed five of those new modular colocation facilities – in West Palm Beach, Fort Pierce, Rockledge, New Smyrna Beach, and Jacksonville, Fla. Another facility will be installed in St Augustine by the end of March. After targeting the Southeast, says Roark, iM Companies will turn its attentions for Allied to the Northeast.
iM also offers an affordable line of modular server data centers that are designed to support critical IT loads of 5kW, 10kW and 15kW per rack, and constructed as interconnecting pods that each contain twenty 24-inch-by-48-inch equipment racks. They deliver N+1 or 2N redundancies, are Category 5 hurricane rated with flexible and highly scalable options, according to the company.
“We’ve been in the design/build/development business since 1986 and in the colocation business since 1999,” says Roark. “With our modular solutions, we get to fully synthesize our capabilities towards a unique offering for modular colocation facilities and data centers. I don’t believe any other firm offers their own modular solutions with such a turnkey roster of options. Besides providing fully-outfitted modular data centers, we will also do the messy work related to site development, jurisdictional approvals, power acquisition, connectivity provisioning and the like; all based on what we have done for many years. The most exciting thing for me is that we will also provide the option to finance and operate these as fully-managed colo facilities, based on monthly charges.”
Roark’s previous experience includes founding FiberMedia as well as running the 28-year-old design and build firm M K Roark Inc., which has built hundreds of projects including the Miami carrier hotel at 36 Northeast 2nd St.
“I have known Mike Roark for many years, and we have worked with iM on the design of the Allied Fiber colocation facilities for about two years now I believe,” Allied Fiber CEO Hunter Newby (News - Alert) told INTERNET TELEPHONY. “iM helped Allied Fiber with many aspects of the electrical and mechanical designs as well as the construction management, delivery, install and commissioning. They have been very good to work with.”
As for Allied Fiber, Newby said that his company has completed the installation of a 528-count fiber cable from Miami to Jacksonville, Fla., and expected to have the full Florida system complete by the end of March.
“The next segment in the Southeast is Jacksonville to Atlanta,” Newby said. “Our fiber cable is already installed between Valdosta and Macon, Ga., which is 150 miles, so that leaves only about 240 miles left to install. [Next comes] Jacksonville-Valdosta, and then Macon-Atlanta. We will also be installing five more Allied Fiber colocation facilities in Georgia. This should begin in the summer and end in the fall. The exact dates for that are not set yet, but the cost of the build is fully funded.”
Edited by Maurice Nagle
