PSINET, the $1 billion provider of Web hosting and other IP services, announced plans earlier this month to build Europe’s largest Web-hosting center in Berlin at a cost of $130 million.
The company, Herndon, VA, expects to complete renovations on the six-story historical structure by the middle of the year. The 45,000-square-foot space will have room for 300,000 Internet servers.
“The new hosting center in Berlin is part of PSINet’s current investment in the expansion of its palette of e-commerce solutions,” said Aman Khan, CEO of PSINet Germany, a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The company announced earlier this year that it planned to invest about $1.3 billion in construction of 20 Web-hosting centers worldwide. PSINet is active in 800 cities in 25 countries.
The Berlin center will have emergency generators that will take over in case the power supply fails, insuring round-the-clock operations, a company statement said.
Target clients include PSINet’s existing and future German clients, though a spokeswoman said the center would be available to other European or multinational companies in need of such services.
Construction of Web-hosting centers around the globe is designed to expand “PSINet’s position as global leader among Application Service Providers (ASP) for e-commerce,” the statement said.
It cited a Forrester Research study that predicted the ASP market will total about $6.5 billion in 2001. The company serves small and medium-sized firms as well as more than 100 Fortune 500 companies.
