FairPoint Opens Data Center in Manchester, N.H.

MANCHESTER, N.H., June 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, local officials joined executives from FairPoint Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRP), a leading provider of advanced communications technology in northern New England, to open a new data center in Manchester, N.H., by symbolically cutting a ribbon signifying, "We are open!" 

Located in downtown Manchester, FairPoint's newest data center provides businesses and organizations with network connectivity and rack space in a physically secure, convenient location. Businesses can use this location and FairPoint's data center in Laconia, N.H., as primary or secondary data center sites or as part of a comprehensive disaster recovery strategy. FairPoint's data centers are strictly controlled environments with essential power, cooling, connectivity and physical security features.

"We are pleased that FairPoint chose Manchester as its newest data center location," said Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas. "We have a vibrant downtown, exciting arts and culture and, of course, a supportive infrastructure for businesses.  This data center opening builds on that foundation."

"The technology sector is vital to the state of New Hampshire, not only for businesses that rely on the industry to compete and prosper, but also to our economy," said Executive Councilor Chris Pappas who represents District 4 covering southern New Hampshire on the State of New Hampshire's Executive Council. "I thank everyone at FairPoint for their continued work in New Hampshire to keep us connected and to help fuel our economy."

"With the opening of this new data center, FairPoint is demonstrating a strong commitment to New Hampshire and its economy," said Jeffrey Rose, commissioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development.  "The center will create new high tech, high paying jobs that will have a multiplier effect throughout the economy.  This investment reflects confidence in the state and FairPoint's position as leader in high tech communications."

"At FairPoint, we work every day to be the 21^st century telecommunications provider New Hampshire's economy needs, and that Granite Staters want and deserve," said Pat McHugh, FairPoint's state president for New Hampshire. "We have already made tremendous investments in New Hampshire. The additional $2.5 million we've invested in building this new data center and creating a team of employees dedicated to supporting our new Advanced Services signifies our commitment to continuing to support our community and evolve our services with the evolving needs of our customers."

"I've had the opportunity to speak with many business owners and IT executives who have expressed a need for data center space in northern New England," said FairPoint's Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Tony Tomae. "These executives are supportive and excited about our decision to create new data centers because they want to focus on their core business – not on building and managing on-premise data centers. Manchester is centrally located for many companies, especially those within approximately 60 miles that would find it convenient to use FairPoint's space as a primary or secondary data center. Plus, our customers in Maine and Vermont will consider our space for housing disaster recovery servers because we are a safe, yet manageable, distance from their primary data center. We are also considering additional data center locations within our service area."

FairPoint's Manchester data center has been designed to accommodate banks, hospitals, government agencies and other companies − from Fortune 100 multinational corporations to small start-ups. Organizations of all sizes can reap benefits from offloading their data center needs to one trusted service provider. FairPoint's Data Center Services offer a flexible, pay-as-you-grow license model, with configurations ranging from half-rack and full-rack to customized cages. FairPoint's account managers work closely with customers to develop customized plans to address their specific requirements. And, with Remote Hands service, customers can let the FairPoint Advanced Services Team handle routine equipment maintenance and troubleshooting.

The benefits of FairPoint's Data Center Services include:

• A cost-effective approach to addressing IT expansion – With the pay-as-you-grow model, customers license only the space they need. There is no need to overbuild on-premises data center space or to take on the high capital expenditure associated with new construction or expansion.
• An essential part of an effective business continuity and disaster recovery strategy – Avoid downtime and loss of business due to IT disruption. FairPoint's data centers can withstand adverse weather conditions, and are designed with the safety, physical security, and power backup features to ensure it stays up and running.
• An effective way to help maintain IT security – An off-site, physically secure data center limits physical access and reduces opportunities for disruptions and deliberate sabotage while mitigating the high costs of building a secure and compliant on-premises data center.
• Both an alternative and a bridge to cloud migration – An ideal solution for businesses that are concerned about regulatory compliance and are not ready to put legacy and critical applications and data on multi-tenant cloud platforms.
• Access to northern New England's largest fiber network – FairPoint's data center customers have access to a 16,000 route-mile fiber network, and can leverage our Carrier Ethernet Services at speeds up to 1 Gbps.

FairPoint opened its first data center in Laconia, N.H., in June 2014. To learn more, visit www.FairPoint.com/datacenterservices.

About FairPoint Communications, Inc.  FairPoint Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRP) provides advanced data, voice and video technologies to single and multi-site businesses, public and private institutions, consumers, wireless companies and wholesale re-sellers in 17 states. Leveraging an owned, fiber-core Ethernet network — including more than 16,000 route miles of fiber in northern New England — FairPoint has the network coverage, scalable bandwidth and transport capacity to support enhanced applications, including the next generation of mobile and cloud-based communications, such as small cell wireless backhaul technology, voice over IP, data center colocation services, managed services and disaster recovery. For more information, visit www.FairPoint.com.

SOURCE FairPoint Communications, Inc.

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http://www.fairpoint.com