Our History

The Direct LTx campus was founded in the 1970s as the regional headquarters for the GPU (later Met-Ed) electrical utility. In addition to office space, the buildings were used for trading of power contracts for the Mid-Atlantic PJM electrical grid as well as service dispatch for utility repairs. Accordingly, the structures, electrical and mechanical infrastructure, and security systems were designed for critical 24 hours per day, 365 days per year operations. The original Direct LTx building had two large data centers, totaling approximately 10,000 square feet of raised floor space, that were primarily used for utility mainframes.

Beginning in the 1970s, GPU’s facilities from Johnstown to Philadelphia were connected by fiber optic cable. This fiber line developed into the regional east-west fiber telecommunications backbone for eastern Pennsylvania. A total of 10 carriers are currently built into Direct LTx, reinforcing its regional importance as a carrier hotel, and providing the fiber transport and connectivity options required for IT infrastructure and hybrid cloud solutions.

In the mid-1980s, the demand for data center space was expanding exponentially, and GPU built the “Computer Building” to add an additional 100,000 square feet of raised floor data center space to the Direct LTx campus. The building was designed and constructed with data center operations in mind, with thick reinforced concrete foundations, floors, and walls to allow data center operations on all four floors (two aboveground and two below ground). Multiply-redundant electrical and mechanical systems and an onsite well were installed to ensure reliable and resilient operations.

Around 2001, First Energy bought GPU/Met-Ed and relocated their Reading data centers and other headquarters operations to Ohio. The Direct LTx campus was vacant until 2005, when it was purchased by Albert and Eunice Boscov, who were successful retailers and philanthropists.  The Boscovs planned to leverage the considerable high tech infrastructure at Direct LTx to attract and retain high paying jobs in the Reading Area.

After acquiring Direct LTx, the Boscovs invested over $20 million in upgrading the mechanical and electrical equipment at Direct LTx to allow state of the art, high availability, data center operations. This included adding 6 megawatts of diesel generation, 7 megawatts of modern UPS battery backup, 700 tons of chilled water capacity, and new cooling towers.

Direct LTx’s location has proven to be ideal for staging data center operations for companies in the region, as well as backup and disaster recovery operations for businesses throughout the I-95 Mid Atlantic corridor. Direct LTx has attracted over 40 data center customers, in private data halls, secure caged areas, and shared data centers. These include major health care, financial, retail, and managed service/cloud providers. Direct LTx provides shared and dedicated disaster recovery suites, providing the physical infrastructure supporting uninterrupted business operations for our disaster recovery customers.

Direct LTx also provides office space for data center customers as well as other tenants who require the 24x7 operations our infrastructure allows, such as call centers and emergency response agencies. Amenities include ample parking, conference rooms, and an on-site cafeteria.