OnLight Aurora Establishes Key Presence in BYTEGRID's New Aurora/Chicago Data Center

AURORA, IL--(Marketwired - Jun 19, 2014) - OnLight Aurora, a fiber optic network ISP and "middle mile" provider of dark fiber and lite wave connectivity within Aurora, IL, today announced it has established a key point of presence (PoP) in BYTEGRID's new data center in Aurora, IL.

Sometimes referred to as the "fourth utility," OnLight will provide BYTEGRID customers with access to OnLight Aurora's high-availability fiber network including multi-homed Metro Ethernet service and low latency wave interconnection to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the world's second-largest financial exchange for futures and options.

BYTEGRID is Chicago's newest Tier 3 multi-tenant data center provider. Its Aurora/Chicago (CH1) facility is a purpose-built data center that has been built and tested for the compliant and high availability needs of the financial services sector. The property benefits from proven data center operations, a highly reliable power grid, and rich fiber connectivity.

In January, BYTEGRID announced the acquisition of the 70,000 square foot Aurora facility that features 34,000 square feet of raised floor computer room space and is generally regarded as one of the premier enterprise data centers in the Chicago market. It was built by one of the country's largest commercial insurance companies in 2007 to meet the emphasis it placed on business resilience and the need for increased capacity and scale over time, as well as the stringent financial services industry regulatory and compliance requirements.

Since its acquisition BYTEGRID has converted the facility into a multi-tenant data center and is leasing approximately 25,000 square feet of enterprise-class, Tier 3 data center colocation space featuring 6 megawatts of power capacity available to serve enterprise, government and service providers.

"BYTEGRID is rapidly emerging as a leading provider of compliant-grade critical data center solutions with a rapidly growing national footprint," said Peter Lynch, President, OnLight Aurora. "OnLight is establishing its presence in CH1 based on BYTEGRID's highly interconnected fabric of dynamic capacity, connectivity, and ecosystem community encompassing large enterprises, service providers and government organizations."

"OnLight Aurora is the focused leader in interconnection and connectivity for the city of Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois," said Don Goodwin, EVP Marketing and Leasing for BYTEGRID. "In addition to the CME and access to the financial trading community, OnLight Aurora's advanced fiber optic ring creates endless possibilities for any enterprise or Government organization with high-bandwidth applications requiring compliance and industry leading speed, reliability, latency and redundancy."

Technical Specifications of BYTEGRID's CH1:

• 70,000 ft² secure data center facility featuring over 34,000 ft² of conditioned raised floor space on a 5+ acre campus
• Tier 3 facility provides redundancy, resiliency, and multi-factor security protocols required for achieving industry specific physical security compliance such as PCI, HIPAA and FISMA
• 2N UPS power, N+1 mechanical systems
• Fiber-rich environment convenient to multiple carriers
• 6MW utility power
• Available technical office space
  
  

BYTEGRID's data centers are highly secure, compliant business platforms serving some of the world's largest companies and government agencies, including, among others, a Fortune 15 global financial services company and a Fortune 50 global security and aerospace firm.

Overall, BYTEGRID owns and operates six data centers in five geographically dispersed markets encompassing more than 700,000 square feet of premier multi-tenant colocation data center space meeting the highest standards for security and reliability. The Company is currently leasing space in most of these centers while pursuing the acquisition of additional facilities this year and beyond.

About OnLight Aurora
OnLight Aurora is a community fiber ISP and an Illinois not-for-profit serving the Aurora region with ultra high speed, low cost, highly available, scalable fiber optic network including multi-homed Metro Ethernet, wave service, and dark fiber. Its services are designed to support and foster economic development growth and promote organizational collaboration through the region. To learn more, please visit www.OnLightAurora.com.

About BYTEGRID®
BYTEGRID Holdings LLC, is a privately-held company headquartered in Northern Virginia focused exclusively on the nationwide acquisition, development and operation of premier data center facilities. The company serves the growing need for mission-critical data center space by providing highly secure, interconnected, carrier-neutral, and density-robust data centers that serve commercial, government and service provider markets. BYTEGRID currently owns and operates data centers in the Washington, D.C., Atlanta, GA, Cleveland, OH, Chicago, IL, and Ft. Worth metro markets with plans to acquire additional facilities in 2014. The company is led by industry veterans with significant experience in data center operations, design and construction; data center sales and marketing; real estate development and finance; and telecommunications. For more information, please visit www.BYTEGRID.com.