Equinix closes Metronode acquisition

Australian acquisition adds four new markets to accelerate interconnection and digital edge deployments nationwide.

Friday, 20th April 2018 Posted 6 years ago in by Phil Alsop

Equinix, Inc. has completed its acquisition of Metronode, a leading data center provider operating facilities throughout Australia.

The acquisition makes Equinix the market leader in Australia with 15 International Business Exchange^TM (IBX^®) data centers nationwide. It expands the company's operations in Sydney and Melbourne, and provides a presence in four new markets: Perth, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Digital transformation could add as much as A$45 billion (approximately US$35 billion) to Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021, according to new joint research from Microsoft and IDC¹. The expanded Platform Equinix^® will provide significant opportunities for Australian organizations to continue their digital transformation, and move their IT infrastructure, applications and services closer to the digital edge in proximity to global customers and partners.

The closure follows an agreement Equinix made with Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan in December 2017 to acquire all the equity interests in Metronode group of companies in an all-cash transaction for A$1.035 billion, or approximately US$804 million.

The Metronode assets add more than 860,000 square feet (80,000 square meters) of land, 90 percent of which is owned, to the global portfolio of Equinix. These sites add approximately 215,000 square feet (20,000 square meters) of gross colocation space in Australia.

The acquisition adds to Platform Equinix two data centers in Melbourne, and three in greater Sydney (including one in Illawarra), meeting customer demand for dual sites in each metro for redundancy and to host their data in network-rich, hyperscale ready facilities. It also adds two data centers to the Equinix portfolio in Perth, and one in each of Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane, enabling businesses in Australia to locate their data in multiple sites across the country.

With Metronode's strong existing customer base in government and proven track record of supporting both federal and state levels, Equinix is now well-positioned to serve both existing government agencies and new partners in this sector across Australia.

Additionally, the Metronode site in Perth will become the landing station for the new Vocus Australia Singapore Cable. With the existing submarine cable deployments at Equinix in Sydney, Equinix becomes a leading provider of intercontinental connectivity, improving performance with lower latency and increased flexibility for customers across Australia.

The acquisition furthers local growth momentum. Equinix recently completed the phase two expansion of its Sydney 4 IBX (SY4) and the phase three expansion of its Melbourne 1 IBX (ME1) is expected to be completed in Q3 2018

The Equinix footprint in the Asia-Pacific region now includes 40 data centers and extends the company's global footprint to 200 data centers across 52 markets, enabling customers with increased capacity to enhance their IT infrastructure at the digital edge with Platform Equinix.

About 60 employees will join the Equinix team in Asia-Pacific as part of the acquisition.