BYTEGRID(R) Enters Chicago Suburbs Acquiring CNA's Flagship Data Center

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jan 20, 2014) - BYTEGRID Holdings LLC, a leading data center company focusing on the nationwide acquisition, development and operation of premier multi-tenant data center facilities, today announced the acquisition of a 70,000 square foot, Tier III data center on 5.25 acres of land in Aurora, Illinois, approximately 30 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Under a sale and partial leaseback agreement, BYTEGRID acquired the facility from Continental Casualty Company, an affiliate of CNA Financial Corporation ("CNA"), the country's eighth largest commercial insurance writer headquartered in Chicago.

CNA built the facility in 2007 to meet the emphasis that CNA 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. The facility features 34,000 square feet of raised floor and is generally regarded as one of the premier enterprise data centers in the Chicago market. CNA will continue to occupy approximately 30% of the facility and remains the primary tenant under a newly created long-term lease agreement.

BYTEGRID will immediately convert the facility into a multi-tenant data center and begin leasing approximately 25,000 square feet of enterprise-class, Tier III data center space featuring 6 megawatts of power capacity available to serve enterprise, government and service providers seeking premier multi-tenant data center space in suburban Chicago.

The facility is connected with multiple tier one telecommunication and fiber carriers with others now expressing interest in establishing a presence in the facility based on BYTEGRID's plans for additional enterprise, government and service provider customers coming online and its attractive proximity to downtown Chicago.

"CNA's success and leadership position has been built upon a long-term commitment to customer satisfaction combined with strong financial acumen," said Thomas Pontarelli, CNA's Executive Vice President and Chief Administration Officer. "Our partnership with BYTEGRID allows us to lower our future IT operating costs and to leverage alternative facilities while taking advantage of BYTEGRID's proven data center operations experience and all the benefits a multi-tenant data center has to offer."

"We are extremely pleased that CNA selected us to not only be their partner, but also to participate in helping them solve some of their key business challenges," said Kenneth Parent, BYTEGRID's CEO. "Our blueprint for converting single tenant data centers to multi-tenant data centers is proven as a complimentary strategy for large organizations seeking to optimize IT performance and operating costs in a way that is completely transparent."

Mr. Parent continued, "The Chicago market continues to show strong demand and represents a natural next step in our national expansion strategy. The Aurora facility is world-class and well suited for large organizations with the demanding requirements for security and reliability. We are committed to the market and will continue to evaluate additional expansion opportunities here."

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, that rely on BYTEGRID to provide the data center and IT infrastructure underpinning its support of sensitive mission-critical operations relying the proven operations of more than 100,000 hours of zero downtime.

With this acquisition, BYTEGRID now operates five data centers in four geographically diverse markets encompassing more than 705,000 square feet of superior multi-tenant data center space meeting the highest standards for security and reliability.

Mid 2013, BYTEGRID announced the acquisition of Cleveland Technology Center, the market leader in secured telecommunications and data center facilities in Cleveland, encompassing over 333,000 square feet of highly secure, robust power and fiber-rich data center space.

In late 2012, BYTEGRID acquired a 77,322 square foot world-class, carrier neutral facility in Alpharetta, Georgia. Prior to this, BYTEGRID expanded and enhanced its flagship 214,000 square foot Silver Spring facilities, the largest and most reliable multi-tenant data center campus in the state of Maryland.

The Company is currently leasing space in most of these centers while planning the acquisition of additional facilities this year.

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, and now Chicago 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.