The need for bandwidth has increased every year since the inception of the commercial Internet in the early 1990s. Underlying this demand has been the ability of telecom service providers to build out the required networks to both enterprise and residential locations. As demand increased, so too has the value for next-generation networks and services, which we believe has increased the value of telecom service providers that own such networks.

We believe that key elements of the traditional telecom network are merging with key elements of the traditional information technology (IT) network, thereby creating a new industry, which has loosely been called Data Services. Within this group we include content delivery networks (CDNs), as well as both neutral colocation and managed hosting providers. The key enabler of this change is the maturation of Internet Protocol (IP). IP has taken many aspects of IT out of the enterprise and has moved it into the network, creating a more intelligent network. This network is much more dynamic than what can be created in-house and includes advanced routing, switching, and distribution technology and allows service providers to offer more advanced services by moving further up the open system interconnection (OSI) stack.