Rich Miller's  Instablog

It's been nearly two years since the initial public offering for Rackspace Hosting (RAX). As the economic crunch begins to ease, the explosion of digital content and storage is driving strong demand for mission-critical data center space. A handful of data center providers have announced plans for IPOs this year. Here's a review of the announcements thus far in 2010:

The Telx Group: On March 19th this provider of colocation and interconnection services filed for an initial public offering in which it hopes to raise up to $100 million. The company said it intends to use the money to accelerate the growth of its business through expanding and upgrading its data centers, and possibly acquisitions. The company is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol TELX.

CoreSite: On May 13 this data center developer filed for an initial public offering as a real estate investment trust (REIT), and hopes to raise $230 million. CoreSite Realty Corporation also plans to arrange a $100 million credit facility and issue $175 million in senior notes when it completes the offering, providing the company with a total of $505 million when it begins life as a public company. The company plans to trade on the NYSE under the ysmbol COR.

Interxion: On May 4 European colocation and data center specialist Interxion filed plans for an initial public offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company filed its paperwork “on a confidential basis,” meaning the details are not public.

CSF Group PLC: In March this Malaysian data center company that raised £28 million ($42 million US) in an initial public offering on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market, making it the first data center provider to sell stock through its IPO. The company will use the funding to further expand its data center footprint in southeast Asia, including a new facility in Malaysia and an expansion into underserved markets in Vietnam and Thailand.

Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT: On March 23 this newly-formed company filed plans with the SEC to raise up to $1.5 billion in an initial public offering. The company plans to operate as a real estate investment trust, and plans to use the proceeds of its offering to buy data centers and medical facilities. Carter Validus is comprised of executives from real estate firms Carter & Associates of Atlanta and The Validus Group of Tampa.

These new entries will offer additional options for investors interested in the strong growth in the data center and managed hosting sector. Existing public companies in this industry include data center REITs Digital Realty Trust (DLR) and DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT), colocation specialist Equinix (EQIX) and managed hosting providers Rackspace Hosting (RAX), Terremark Worldwide (TMRK) and Savvis (SVVS).