RE: Exodus "locking down" customer gear due to bankruptcy?

["Cristopher Daniluk" <cris () dsnet net>]

> I've heard anecdotal evidence that Exodus has a clause buried in
> at least some of their contracts that effectively prohibits
> the customer
> from removing their equipment from their facilities in the event of
> bankruptcy. Not the customer filing Ch. 7/11, but EXODUS
> going bankrupt.
> Furthermore, it appears that as they have indeed filed
> Chapter 11, they are
> actively enforcing this, at least at their Northern Virginia facility.

They can state that even if they file for bankruptcy, the contract is valid.
Because you're a tenant and they're a landlord (in strict legal sense) they
can prohibit you from moving your equipment by having an effective lien on
the assets you store there in the amount of the remaining value of the
contract. That is rarely done, and I think the follow-up posts have shown
that EXDS isn't one of them.

> Has anyone else heard of this or been affected by this?
> Exodus customers,
> can any of you look up your contracts and see if you can dig
> this up? I'm
> interested in hearing the exact language, if it is indeed a standard
> clause...I'm thinking there's no way that this could be enforceable,
> although it would probably take a TRO to get them to let
> customers claim
> their gear.

They have a policy making it obscenely difficult to bring equipment in and
remove equipment from the facility. In the N Virginia facility, I remember
the pain we had to go through to bring in a replacement switch and then
subsequently remove the failed one. I'd imagine that EXDS is running under
heightened security after 9/11 -- though thats just a guess. I have not been
into, nor had any equipment in the N Virginia facility in over a year
now.

Cris