M&A, managed third party cloud, data centre expansion
The sector has kicked back into gear and the past week was highlighted by another high-profile transaction: Rackspace’s acquisition of Datapipe.
This is something we predicted last year when Rackspace was taken private and follows its recent acquisition of TriCore. Datapipe has built a reputation and growing customer base in the managed third party cloud market and Rackspace will use it as a platform to catapult forward in this segment. But third party cloud is just part of the story. Datapipe helps Rackspace extend its footprint and round out an expanding service portfolio. This deal is about the next generation of services, but interestingly, colocation was an important part of the story.
There was also strategic activity on the data centre side. Equinix acquired Itonic to expand its European footprint and Las Vegas-based Switch filed for an IPO as it continues to expand globally. In other strategic developments, Keppel DC REIT acquired its second Dublin-based data centre and IXcellerate secured an investment to expand further in Moscow.
The global cloud build out is not slowing down. Google added new locations across a number of geographies and is mulling more expansion in Asia. Meanwhile, Digital Realty is building in Australia, Multigrid is building in Sweden and Internap is expanding its Dallas footprint.
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