FORTRUST moves into wholesale data-center market

Founded by CEO Steve Knudson and Gary Magness in 2000, FORTRUST has maintained a low profile for most of its existence. 

The $150 million data center and colocation facility in north Denver with about 40 employees is one of the most rugged in the Rockies.

Now it's getting the word out after installing modular technology from Phoenix-based IO -- dubbed IO Anywhere -- last year and targeting Fortune 500 companies with its newly expanded capacity. FORTRUST is also IO's exclusive reseller in Colorado.

David Shepard recently came over from IO as FORTRUST's new VP of Sales and Marketing, and he plans to hire two new salespeople to help with the push.

Shepard says the move to modular technology was based on industry need. "The data-center industry as a whole was broken," says Shepard. "To match the needs of the users, modular technology was key."

His move from IO, owner of data centers in Arizona, New Jersey, London, and Singapore, was based on the data center's heavy-duty infrastructure.

"FORTRUST has built one of the most reliable -- if not the most reliable -- data center I've ever seen," he says. "They just weren't pushing that story hard. They were kind of a sleeping giant."

He touts improvements in not only capacity but "a dramatic increase in efficiency" stemming from IO Anywhere. "There is no other data center that can deliver this to Colorado," he says.

Two-thirds of FORTRUST's clients are on the coasts, and Denver's nearly natural-disaster-proof location is another big selling point.