AboveNet invests $75m in Internet services exchange

AboveNet, a subsidiary of the global Internet infrastructure and optical network company Multimedia Fibre Network, is investing $75 million (€87.95 million) in an Internet services exchange in Dublin.

The 120,000 square foot centre - under construction at the Citywest Business Park - will provide companies in the Republic with Internet hosting facilities and access to unlimited e-commerce bandwidth.

Bandwidth capacity is being bought from the Government's transatlantic fibre-optic cable joint venture with Global Crossing.

Details of the deal were not released but it is understood the company has paid $25 million for the fibre capacity and $50 million towards the Internet services centre at Citywest.

The centre is due to be completed in the first quarter of next year and will create 70 new jobs in hardware, network and software support at the Citywest site.

The Dublin centre will enable AboveNet to offer its European customers access to more than Metromedia Fiber Network's global network. It will offer its US clients a method of entering the European market.

It is understood Microsoft, one of its major customers in the US, has agreed to use the AboveNet service centre in the Republic to service its Dublin-based European headquarters which serves the European, Middle East and African regions.

Mr Charles Briggs, vice-president of business development Internet services Europe, said the company was in discussions with several potential customers.

He said the new centre was the single, largest and most significant investment by the company to date in Europe. The company has a string of similar centres across the USA and five in Europe and is seeking to expand its global reach.

IDA Ireland is not grant-aiding the Internet services centre but it is understood AboveNet is in negotiations with the agency regarding a secondary investment for a pan-European services centre. Such an operation would offer customer support and other managed services. It would probably employ many more staff than the Internet services centre and would therefore qualify for grant aid.

Mr Briggs said the Republic had a very significant chance of becoming the centre for European e-commerce because of the access to fibre, the passage of the E-commerce Act and the non-geographic nature of e-commerce.