AT&T Corp said Tuesday that it would build up to 26 internet data centers to tap demand for corporate e-commerce and related internet services. The US telco will double the capacity of its New York, San Diego and San Francisco data centers by year-end as well as adding new ones in Washington DC, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle. New centers will also be built in the UK, Germany and the Asia Pacific region plus other sites to be named.

Michael Keith, president of AT &T Business Services said the investment was sparked by demand from so-called dot.com internet companies hunting for reliable web hosting and co- location services. He said the data centers would serve as mission control for businesses looking to build web-based services.