Keystone NAP's new Bucks County modular data center planned for early 2015 opening

Tom Paine

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Keystone NAP's connectivity map / Keystone NAP

Typically, the announcement of a new data center facility will highlight its total square footage. But for Keystone NAP, with a planned data center in Fairless Hills, Bucks County announced today, that figure is somewhat irrelevant. Keystone NAP, founded by Philadelphia entrepreneur Peter Ritz (Xtium, AirClic), is largely modular in design and can be built out incrementally to meet customer demand. Using modular power units called KeyBlocks designed by Schneider Electric, Keystone NAP can be built to customer specifications, avoiding the challenges that often occur in filing a large, predetermined amount of capacity.

The KeyBlocks can also adapt to the power intensity of an individual customers's environment, greatly reducing power bills for some. The Fairless Hills facility, on the location of a long-closed steel factory (remember those?), is at the junction of several energy sources.

Keystone NAP says it will address "the underserved Mid-Atlantic market," a theme mentioned by other recent entrants into the area and generally confirmed by industry analysts. It also says Keystone NAP will be the first "advanced data center in the Northeast capable of meeting the needs of today's web-scale enterprises."

Keystone NAP, which received Series A1 funding from a group of Philadelphia investors led by Ira Lubert (of LLR Partners and other Philadelphia-area investment groups) and other investors arranged by DH Capital, plans an early 2015 opening.

Keystone NAP has also formed important network connectivity partnerships, Ritz told me in a phone interview. With networks built out directly to the Keystone NAP site, Sunesys and Comcast deliver dedicated bandwidth to Keystone NAP customers through independent dual feeds entering the facility from opposite sides of the campus. Through Sunesys, customers also gain access to diverse, carrier-neutral and redundant dark fiber routes to New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia and Chicago

Other new entrants into the Philly-area market include well-funded TierPoint, which acquired both the former Philadelphia Technology Park in June and Xand, an operator of data centers in the Northeast with three locations near Philadelphia, in October.

DH Capital, which is a huge player in financing data center deals, was also involved with the debt financing for TierPoint's acquisition of Xand.