Perseus Telecom Acquires 60 Hudson Street Data Hub from Viatel Group

Perseus Telecom, a global provider of connectivity, has acquired a new data hub at 60 Hudson Street in the Tribeca section of New York City, signaling an expansion of the firm’s network for trading firms and enterprise networks.

Financial details were not disclosed in the company's release issued today. But in an exclusive interview with Wall Street & Technology this morning, Perseus Telecom CEO Dr. Jock Percy said that his company purchased the data hub and the assets at 60 Hudson Street from Viatel Group, Viatel was a big global provider that went into bankruptcy in 2003, and retracted somewhat from their prior status and now operates in Europe as VTELWavenet, according to Percey. [Editor's note: Viatel group emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 and now, under the brand VTLWaveNet, provides high bandwidth services across Europe to carriers, ISPs, content providers and enterprise customers.]

As to why Perseus bought the data hub at 60 Hudson, Percy said: "We operate globally so this was a good deal for all of us," said Percy. "It is one of the most important carrier hotels in the world," he added.

The 60 Hudson Street location is a hub for financial communications. Telx, a financial services data center provider, operates its C3 Cloud Connection Center at the address. Telx's operation at 60 Hudson Street is 90,000 and has 15 financial services tenants, including IPC, CFN, Guavatech and LiquidityBook. But Telx is one of a multitude of specialists operating in the building, said Jock. According to Percy, there are at least 20 data rooms in 60 Hudson Street. "It is one of the most important carrier hotels in the world and there are a significant number of service providers that are data center owners in the building," he said.

While Telx operates an interconnectivity business model where carriers and service providers from different locations can meet in their cross connect rooms, Perseus has a different model, said the CEO. "Our model is much more of a wide area network node where we bring together specific fiber assets and specific global telecommunications routes, both proprietary as well as connecting to people using Telx and other connectivity in the building," explained Percy. "We are very much focused on ultra-low latency connectivity, which is primarily driven by financial trading requirements, gaming and media content delivery," added Percy.

The data center provides global point-to-point and point-to-multipoint connectivity between financial exchanges, data centers and corporate office locations, and is considered one i one of the most important carrier buildings in the world. “Across regional and global geographies, valuable financial assets are traded with ever increasing speed and frequency,” stated Dr. Jock Percy, CEO of Perseus Telecom. “Electronic trading participants require the best available technology to take advantage of every market opportunity, with minimal latency and access to global trading hubs. With the acquisition of 60 Hudson, we offer trading firms the fastest access to all global networks, including trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, transcontinental US and Latin America.”

Within 60 Hudson, Perseus Telecom incorporates proprietary and global carrier networks to construct a bespoke (a.k.a. customized), performance-focused infrastructure. “With the increasing importance of interconnection and speed in today’s trading environment, having a data hub which provides low-latency connection that is quicker, even by microseconds, is mission-critical by giving traders a competitive edge,” continues Percy.

Designated as a historic landmark since 1992, the building at 60 Hudson was formerly known as the Western Union building, and was a breakthrough hub for worldwide communications during the telegraph era. Today it represents more than 100 domestic and global telecommunications companies within its colocations meet-me-room.

“This is perhaps the world’s most fiber rich and interconnected building,” commented Andrew Kusminsky, COO of Perseus Telecom in the same release. “From our new data center, we can get to 196 countries.” Several major financial services technology providers are domiciled in the building, including IPC, a major financial services technology provider.

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio