Rick Stein, director of product management for AT&T's Internet datacenters, tells GlobeSt.com the 200,000-sf building was originally supposed to come online last year. But after watching a number of telecom hotels in the area go under as high-tech firms folded, the company settled on a more prudent approach. "We decided to carefully watch the market," he says. "We realized we should wait till demand picks up."

Stein contends that the downturn in the telecommunications industry worked to AT&T's advantage in the end because customers are now looking for a brand name. "We are benefiting from the shakeup in the industry," he notes. "There is a flight to quality." This is AT&T's 18th Internet data center and its first in the Greater Boston area. A lot of area companies are looking for providers now, notes Stein, who says that the building has leased 20% of its space and the center has not officially opened yet.

The center boasts six layers of security, according to Stein, including biometric scanners, "mantraps" that restrict access to the center, card readers, closed circuit televisions and security guards as well as physical enclosures that house the systems. There are also highly resilient power and cooling networks that include elaborate backup systems to ensure the infrastructure of the Internet stays up and running, says Stein.