M&A, hyperscale, edge, interconnection, new markets
The sector continued to push forward and M&A and strategic activity was at the forefront of a busy week.
There were transactions from a number of different segments (and we’ll be covering more in the coming weeks). On the SMB side, Liquid Web picked up fellow Michigan-based provider Nexcess to expand its application-level expertise. Being able to handle the application level is part of Pythian’s value proposition and it took on a strategic investment from Mill Street Capital. On the data centre side, infrastructure-oriented funds continue to target the sector and a recent transaction saw Macquarie Infrastructure acquiring Netrality. Meanwhile, over in APAC, Keppel DC REIT took over a data centre asset within the larger Keppel umbrella, while 5G Networks picked up a Sydney-based data centre.
Hyperscale platforms continue to acquire land to support infrastructure builds on a global basis and Google did that recently in Taiwan. But technology is also a priority as hyperscale clouds go for economies of innovation on par with the vast economies of scale they have been able to attain. Microsoft’s latest technology acquisition was of migration specialist Movere.
Secondary or edge markets are increasingly a strategic priority. Microsoft recently detailed its edge node expansion plans and is moving to a number of interesting markets around the world. One of them is Vancouver, an under the radar market in western Canada, that Microsoft plans to expand in. Vancouver is not known for wholesale, but Cologix brought online new inventory in this market that could support exactly these kind of edge market requirements from hyperscale tenants.
Interconnection nodes are building out as on-ramps to cloud become increasingly crucial to distributed architectures and users in edge markets. Microsoft is expanding its ExpressRoute footprint and PacketFabric raised a substantial amount of growth capital.
Finally, security remains top of mid. Hostinger in Europe suffered a significant breach and recently, the UK government issued some very big fines amid some security issues at large enterprises. Security should be top of mind for all MSPs and Acronis is featuring cybersecurity as a central theme at Acronis Summit in Miami, October 13-16. Structure Research is a sponsor of the event that will be well attended by the service provider/MSP community.
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