2017 was a landmark year in IT for many reasons, but for many data center operators, it also meant big changes in ownership. Last year, the total deal volume of data center mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reached $20 billion, according to Synergy Research Group’s latest analysis of the market. It’s a figure that surpasses the […]
2017 was a landmark year in IT for many reasons, but for many data center operators, it also meant big changes in ownership.
Last year, the total deal volume of data center mergers and acquisitions (M&A) reached $20 billion, according to Synergy Research Group’s latest analysis of the market. It’s a figure that surpasses the total deal volume of 2015 and 2016 combined.
In 2017, data center owners paid vast sums to grow their footprints, observed John Dinsdale, chief analyst and research director at Synergy Research Group.
“The largest transaction in the year was Digital Realty’s $7.6 billion acquisition of DuPont Fabros, but there were four other deals that were valued at a billion dollars or more, involving acquisitions by Equinix, Cyxtera, Peak 10 and Digital Bridge,” said Dinsdale. “There were another twelve deals that were valued in the $100 million to $1 billion range, and 31 smaller deals that were each valued at up to $100 million.”
All told, 48 deals were completed in 2017. The previous two years (2015 and 2016) saw 45 deals close between them, 17 deals in 2015 and 28 deals in 2016. The largest of those was Equinix’s acquisition of TelecityGroup for $3.8 billion in 2016, noted to the analyst firm.
TelecityGroup’s 40-plus data centers helped Equinix more than double its capacity in Europe. It also helped the firm land some major new clients.
“Through the acquisition, Telecity brings more than 1,000 net new customers to Equinix, including more than 200 network and mobility companies and more than 300 cloud and IT services companies,” stated Equinix in a Jan. 15, 2016 announcement. “This further strengthens the business ecosystems found inside of Equinix International Business Exchange IBX data centers and provides customers with the broadest choice of service providers for IT and multi-cloud deployments to accelerate business performance.”
During the three-year period between 2015 and the end of 2017, Digital Realty and Equinix have collectively spent $19 billion snapping up other data center operators.
Digital Reality has primarily focused its efforts on the U.S. and Europe. Equinix appears to have more global ambitions, having inked deals in the world’s four major regions. Other acquirers of note include Carter Validus, CyrusOne, Cyxtera, Digital Bridge, Elegant Jubilee, Iron Mountain, NTT and Peak 10.
Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.
Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
December 16, 2020
AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
December 11, 2020
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to Datamation, eWEEK, and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
