Phoenix-based colocation company i/o Data Centers is planning a new large data center in New Jersey. The company's CEO George Slessman told Data Center Knowledge that the future facility will provide between 500,000 sq ft and 1m sq ft of space.

The data center's design will be based on i/o's new modular data center approach i/o Anywhere, where IT equipment and facilities infrastructure are pre-manufactured and packaged in custom-size containers and then shipped to the construction site for assembly.

Slessman said the expansion was a natural progression for the company. "We really think it's critical for our customers to have both East coast and West coast options."

"We have multiple customers committed to coming with us to this site," he added. "We have customer deliveries for the second quarter of 2011 in the New York/New Jersey market."

The company is currently going through the site selection process for the new facility and has narrowed its choices down to two locations in New Jersey.

The project will be partially funded by the $130m credit facility the company secured in October through a deal led by Wells Fargo. Around the same time, Caterpillar Financial Services led another deal through which i/o received an additional $70m secured facility.

The provider currently has data centers in Phoenix (more than 500,000 sq ft) and Scottsdale (about 120,000 sq ft), Arizona.