September 3, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- In a seemingly well-timed announcement, particularly in the heart of hurricane season, data center operator Digital Realty Trust (digitalrealtytrust.com) announced on Tuesday it has signed a deal with Foster Fuels (emergencyfuelservice.com) to provide its data center customers with emergency backup fuel.
In its most recent announcement, the company says it will now offer "dependable emergency fuel delivery for power generators at any of DRT's US turn-key data center facilities," so that customers can maintain their data center operations even during prolonged outages caused by events, such as natural disasters.
Founded in 1921, Foster Fuels is said to be one of the leading emergency fuel delivery companies in the US. The company says it is the prime contractor responsible for providing ground fuel support during national declared emergencies in support of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, and has long-term relationships with major oil companies around the country.
With this agreement, Digital Realty Trust says backup fuel will be delivered within 24 hours in the case of an emergency to any of its US turn-key data centers and both companies are exploring the possibility to make this available to Digital Realty Trust's other US facilities.
"Digital Realty Trust and its customers can also arrange for pre-staging of generator fuel to support uninterrupted fuel delivery even in disaster situations with complex logistics," says the company.
Although this kind of emergency fuel service isn't necessarily unprecedented in the industry, it's an interesting move for a company like Digital Realty Trust to take on these managed hosting-type of responsibilities, especially considering its duties arguably don't need to go beyond its function of developing and managing technology-related real estate.
"Digital Realty Trust's facilities house critical operations for our customers and this agreement with Foster Fuels ensures that customers can stay up and running on generator power even during prolonged utility power outages," says Ted Martin, VP of technical operations at Digital Realty Trust. "Foster Fuels has built a very strong reputation for its emergency fuel oil services and it has the resources, operations and protocols to support the specific needs of data center customers. We have worked with Foster Fuels to supply our own fuel oil needs, and now this service is available to our customers to support their disaster operations plans."
Digital Realty Trust currently operates 74 properties, comprising of about 12.9 million rentable square feet and 1.9 million square feet of space held for redevelopment. The company's portfolio is located in 27 markets throughout North America and Europe.
