Switch Datacenter Group has announced the transfer of its AMS1 colocation data center and operations to Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) – in an all-cash transaction for €30 million ($34 million). Switch Datacenter Group sees it as a logical next step on its path to strengthening their focus on the colocation wholesale market and customer-specific site development for enterprises and hyperscale customers.
Over the last couple of years, Switch Datacenter Group has evolved from a high-end classical retail colocation provider into a professional designer, developer and operator of high-end (wholesale) data centers. Switch Datacenters has made significant investments in R&D and the development of state-of-the-art data center infrastructure technologies including patented indirect adiabatic cooling technology and OCP-ready (Open Compute Project) data center infrastructures.
“As the Amsterdam data center market is booming and many new companies are entering the local playing field, we see there is a strong need for a flexible, experienced data center development & operations company in this Amsterdam market to assist customers in finding the right location, assuring connectivity and power, while also offering a full data center services portfolio around a proven concept of long term SLA based DCaaS sites,” said Gregor Snip, CEO and founder of Switch Datacenter Group. “Over the years, Switch has created the right skillset and references in this market. At first as a hosting company and later on as a renowned retail colocation provider, while we are now for years already highly experienced in building, designing and improving data center sites. Now it is the right time to bring this unique knowledge forward and focus even more on becoming a data center technology development leader.”
Other Wholesale Data Centers
“The transfer of the AMS1 data center to Equinix shows that Switch is respected and trusted by leading global players,” said Edgar van Essen, Managing Director of the Switch Datacenter Group. ‘’This message is in line with the trust received from many other market leading names in the industry who trust us their ICT infrastructures and business. It is also another proof that the world starts to know Switch as a highly capable, innovative, state of the art data center development company.”
Switch Datacenter Group runs two more high-end data centers in the Amsterdam metropolitan region and is actively involved in the planning of more wholesale data centers to come The transaction was guided and completed by AC Niellsen Data Centers, represented by Frank de Fremery, as exclusive broker for the project on behalf of the shareholders Plain Vanilla Investments (represented by Coen Binnerts) and SDC Holding (represented by Gregor Snip).
11th Equinix IBX Data Center in NL
Equinix AM11 becomes the 11th Equinix IBX data center in the Netherlands and the ninth Equinix IBX located in Amsterdam. The data center is a leased asset and adds approximately 250 cabinets of sold capacity and a total capacity for approximately 700 additional cabinets once the facility is completely built out. The site can also support the potential to expand into an adjacent building to accommodate future growth and approximately 1,300 additional cabinets.
The new AM11 data center will be tethered to Equinix’s AM7 data center, enabling customers to easily interconnect with the world’s largest business ecosystems available on Platform Equinix for maximum collaboration across digital supply chains. AM11 currently has a customer mix that would map closely to Equinix’s existing base including networks, cloud service providers and content and digital media companies.
Today, Equinix operates 200 IBX data centers in 52 markets. “Amsterdam is a key interconnection point for Europe, with leading enterprises and cloud service providers making it a primary hub for IT infrastructure,” said Eugene Bergen Henegouwen, President, EMEA, Equinix. “Adding interconnection capacity in this market enables local and international customers to leverage Platform Equinix to meet their changing business needs.”
