Equinix to buy Switch & Data to expand data centre business

Two of the largest data centre operators to merge in £416 million deal

By Stephen Lawson
Published: 11:19 GMT, 22 October 09

Equinix has agreed to acquire Switch & Data Facilities in a US$689 million deal that will bring together two of the world's largest operators of data centres.

Equinix already operates 45 data centres in the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which house infrastructure for customers including Google, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, Netflix and the Nasdaq stock exchange. With the Switch & Data acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of next year, it will add 34 more across the US and Canada.

Both companies provide data centre facilities on high-speed network lines where enterprises and service providers can run applications and store data for delivery in a region.

The acquisition will help Equinix address two key trends: the growing demand for online data, and the aggregation and distribution of enterprise resources, the companies said. Equinix will gain data centre space in 16 new markets, including Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Toronto, while Switch & Data customers will gain overseas reach.

The total size of Equinix's data centres will expand by more than 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters) to exceed 6 million square feet.

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