Data storage byte by byte

Frontier GlobalCenter, the data and Internet arm of Frontier Communications, said last week that it would lease business customers scalable backup and disaster recovery services on a usage-fee basis.

Frontier is using Storage Technology Corp. to supply and integrate the system, which is now being installed in its Sunnyvale, Calif., data center. Frontier expects to install similar equipment in some of its seven other data centers - most likely in New York and Virginia - and will consider taking the service overseas. Frontier currently operates data centers in London and Melbourne, Australia.

The service will back up a client's data on computer tape and store it in racks in earthquake-proof vaults.

"Data centers have become a real estate play," said Paul Santinelli, vice president of technology for Frontier GlobalCenter. "We're trying to bring value and economies of scale to the customer. And rather than trying to charge up the food chain into the [enterprise resource planning] market, we're building core competence in utility applications that make sense."

Frontier is "still in the process of defining an ideal per-megabyte price or class-of-service package," Santinelli said. "But it will feed on a usage basis only. As you use storage, you pay for it."

The service will be especially appealing to small, fast-growing Internet companies that are resource- and capital-constrained and have heavy data-storage needs said Geoff Sinn, StorageTek's managed storage services director.

But some of Frontier GlobalCenter's current data clients are far from start-ups - Yahoo!, eToys, About.Com, Playboy, Viacom, The Washington Post and Newsweek. The division sells data services to about 30% of the 100 most trafficked Web sites, said Santinelli. Frontier will offer the service to hosted clients and those that buy only transport on its nationwide network.