Possible new business - Need help

[scourtney2000]

I am looking for very specific kind of help. I am looking for entrepreneurial techs who have some ideas about the colo/hosting business. I realize that the business is faily saturated. I am looking for advice/potential business partners who have fresh ideas.

I believe I have a unique story. I am a principal in two companies in Baltimore, MD. One company, Litecast, provides dark fiber networks for carriers, enterprises, and institutions in Baltimore City. The other company, BaltiCORE, is a commercial ISP in Baltimore.

Recently we have come across thousands of square feet of empty, state-of-the-art colo space. I am sure the fact that Baltimore has empty colo is not a surprise, nor is it any different than any other major city in the US.

What might make this space different is:
1. It is priced to move,
2. It is connected to neutral fiber and an ISP, BaltiCORE, with a ton of capacity. BaltiCORE moves about 700 Mbps of Internet traffic currently.
3. It is ready to go now (and hs been).

I need help evaluating this opportunity. Specifically, I am looking for potential partners who know how to take advantage of this space. In support of this potential business I have created a site.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance. Thanks HostHideout

[cbaer]

I believe that the market for colo is going to grow rapidly over the next few years.
With the burden of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance on publicly-traded companies to prove their controls over IT data, I think that a lot of CIO's/CTO's will realize the cost-benefit of colocation over building a room on their own.
Most companies are looking for uptime and great customer care. If you offer and emphasize both reliability and customer service, you will have a great advantage over many of the major players in the market.
Good luck!
Chris Baer
www.bostondatacenters.com

[scourtney2000]

Thank you for your response. I am inclined to believe that the colo market is finally going to turn around. This is the reason why I am so interested in finding the right people and the best ideas for this space. I think what really puts me in a good space is the bandwidth I am already pushing. I hope I can find some good people with experience that can join me in this venture.

[LiftNw8]

With that amount of space available not only could you use it for Colo facilities but also to set up managed hosting solutions targeting those same businesses and instead of having them bring in there own equipment provide it for them, this is also a growing market and I feel something that will continue to grow.

[nsusa]

I don't think SOX (Sarbaynes Oxley) will provide more business. The new regulations are going into effect by 01/01/05 and then require quarlterly audit reports. SOX will rather lead to inhouse solutions for the publicly traded companies - most of them have that anyway already.

Co-location or managed solutions for small businesses can be a good market if you can show the actual benefit to small businesses. As an example - inlcude Outlook/Exchange 2003 and Sharepoint and you can have some really good arguments at your disposal.

Christoph

[cjhhiv]

Go COLO all the way. I've been helping clients launch facilities for years and every one has become profitable within 1-2 years.

Good luck!