We are setting up an alternate west server that is running the latest panel version and will allow you to select which PHP version to run.
This server will be known as lax.lvcs.net
It will be open to a limited number of customers (less than 50).
If you are currently on the west server, you can ping this server to see if it responds with better times.
This server is now up and running with the same PHP versions that are available on the other machines.
We will be compiling new versions on all servers in the near future. We will need to see how the -replace functions work so we can just replace 5.5.4 with 5.5.6 without having to change anyone's site to the new version if they already have 5.5.4 selected (for example).