SFI's facilities are all state-of-the-art and fully redundant. All of the hardware is cutting edge, from gigabit ethernet layer3 and layer4 switches to Lucent access servers. Connections to peer partners are fast and fault tolerant.

SFI locates all of its data facilities "on net" in order to reduce line turn-up times. To be "on net" means to be located on the fiber "backbone" of a telephone or data carrier, which greatly eases the task for the backbone provider to deliver services.

All the systems operated by SFI are backed up on a daily basis. The tape catalogs are archived for three weeks and stored off site in a safety deposit box. In addition to tape back up and off site storage, critical data is replicated across all other SFI facilities.

All systems are constructed using one type or another of redundancy or fail-over technology greatly reducing the possibility of system failures. At a very minimum, all systems are constructed using RAID technology.

SFI operates state-of-the-art facilities. Some of the features of these facilities are listed below.

Facilities all include earthquake tolerant structures secured by pass-code entry. All data center flooring is raised for cable and cooling.

Peer Fault Management and Disaster Recovery - SFI has multiple DS3 connections terminating at different major backbone suppliers. If one DS3 should fail, traffic is automatically routed to the other remaining circuits.

Power Management and Cooling - All data centers environments are controlled with Liebert systems power management and cooling equipment.

SFI has (or is in the process of implementing) 4 state-of-the-art primary data centers in the U.S and 1 in Europe as follows:

• Salt Lake City, UT - Operational since May, 1998
• San Francisco, CA - Operational since February, 2000
• Cincinnati, OH - Operational date July 1, 2000
• New York City, NY - Operational date September, 2000
• London, England - Operational date September, 2000

Diesel generators are deployed in Salt Lake City, Cincinnati and London for user during a sustained power outage. Diesel generated power can sustain a facility for an indefinite amount of time given the availability of fuel. In these locations as well as others where generators cannot be deployed battery backup systems are in place that can sustain the operation for up to 12 hours.

All data center environments are continuously controlled (65°F, 30% Humidity).

SFI also has smaller data facilities in Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Albuquerque, NM; Cheyenne, WY; and Mesquite, NV.