Pandemic, M&A, hyperscale, data centre, MSP, security
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be front and centre in the infrastructure services market, but there were also some important developments in global M&A.
In Europe, Vantage Data Centers acquired Wales-based operator NGD as it looks to push further into the region. The deal followed its recent acquisition of Etix Everywhere. Vantage is focused on hyperscale and in APAC, AirTrunk has a similar approach. It continues to expand in the region and took on a majority investment from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
Hyperscale is showing few signs of slowing down in this environment and the upcoming earnings season will provide more insights. But on the ground, we saw AWS continue to expand in Canada, while Digital Realty is bringing online a third data centre in Singapore with large-scale tenants.
There has been plenty of talk about hyperscale’s resilience, but MSPs positioned in the right verticals are pushing through in this environment and we have some interesting insights from Portland-based Opus Interactive that speak to this.
Meanwhile, infrastructure continues to see unprecedented demand amid surges in Internet-based activity and we have more data points on growth and demand from both Zoom and G Suite. The pressure has been so great that Azure has put restrictions on some of its services. The surge has also caused security and privacy risks and Zoom is dealing with this and allowing users to choose infrastructure location to help address concerns.
Finally, on the operational side, COVID-19 is causing providers to deal with challenges that closed borders are creating.
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