Equinix acquires Zenium Istanbul data centre
Tue 10 Oct 2017
Interconnection and data centre firm Equinix has acquired Zenium’s data centre facility in Istanbul.
The purchase was carried out through an all-cash transaction for $93 million (approx. £70 million). The facility currently generates around $2.5 million of revenue each year.
The purchase represents a strategic decision by Equinix, in a city that represents the meeting point between Europe and Asia. According to the firm, Istanbul carries ‘critical economic and geopolitical importance’, and will strengthen Equinix’s hand in the European market.
The facility, which will be renamed Equinix IS2, gives the organisation the capacity and growth path to enable it to meet increased demand for colocation and interconnection in Turkey.
The purchase provides Equinix with three buildings, one of which is currently partially fitted out, while the remaining two are ready to be fitted with data centre equipment. The entire facility amounts to 1500 sq. metres of colocation space, with the ability to increase to 12,000 sq. metres and a total of 22MW of critical load.
Equinix EMEA president Eric Schwartz commented: “As the Turkish economy continues to grow, Istanbul will become an increasingly important hub for connectivity and technology infrastructure, and this new campus will help Equinix meet this demand from customers across our global customer base.”
Zenium CEO & founder, Franek Sodzawiczny, said: “We congratulate Equinix with this transaction, which enables us to focus on our business in Western Europe. The technological infrastructure in Turkey is advancing quickly, as businesses are requiring more interconnection to compete.”
The data centre already plays host to 10 networks, including Turk Telecom, Turkey’s formerly state-owned telecoms organisation. These provides network choice to the multinationals and IT vendors which base part of their operations in Istanbul or use it as a ‘gateway’ through to Asia.
The Global Interconnection Index forecasts Europe’s installed capacity to grow to 1451 Tbps by 2020 – a rate of 44% per annum. Istanbul is a key route for submarine cables between Europe, Asia and Africa – an important factor for industries that require low-latency connectivity, meaning the city is increasingly likely to be used as a regional hub.
The firm recently closed on its acquisition of Iberian data centre provider Itconic, in a transaction worth nearly £200 million.
