Savvis' Savvy Sale

Savvis Communications revealed this week that it lost $8.1 million on the sale of its Hazelwood, Mo. data center to Reuters back in May. The loss on the data center, which was disclosed in Savvis' third quarter earnings announcement, was interpreted by some as having contributed to a weaker performance for the company.

That may be true, if you''re only looking at the numbers. If you step back and take a look at the broader data center market, the sale price of Savvis' 100,000 square foot data center is far from a disaster. Reuters paid $35 million in cash, so when the loss is figured in, it means Savvis valued the facility on its books at $43.1 million.

By that math, Savvis sold the data center for about 81 percent of its valuation. I'd bet there are more than a few recent facility sellers who would be happy to have that kind of "loss."