As the interest in AI accelerates globally, a resurgence is noticed in a related sector: data center investment. AI-integrated solutions demand higher processing capability, marking data centers as attractive long-term investments. Recently, a $7 billion data center joint venture was announced by Blackstone and Digital Realty, promising additional data centers and enhanced IT capacity.
In a recent surge of developments within the data center industry, Microsoft has taken the lead with its commitment to invest a staggering £2.5 billion in expanding artificial intelligence (AI) data center infrastructure in the UK. This landmark investment comes amidst a thriving year for the sector, showcasing a 13% estimated growth compared to the previous year, according to Synergy Research Group.
Norway’s top telecom operator, Telenor, joins forces with Hafslund, HitecVision, and Analysys Mason to create the nation’s most secure commercial data center operator, focusing on sustainable solutions and critical data storage. The collaboration addresses national security concerns and promotes energy-efficient data centers with heat recycling potential.
BT and ABB, a Swedish–Swiss multinational corporation specializing in robotics, power and automation technology, have announced a collaboration to upgrade the latter’s globally managed communications infrastructure to new levels of performance and flexibility to support the company’s new operating model. Under this partnership, BT will modernize ABB’s network infrastructure in cooperation with ABB’s Information Systems team to build a sustainable, robust and secure core platform with a highly automated and data-driven managed service. BT will provide an end-to-end, comprehensive, multi-layered cyber security environment to support ABB’s cloud-first goals. The company will install, operate and monitor over 1,100 end-point devices, constantly validating every device, user and application that is connected to the network. Security is a primary focus as ABB implements its cloud plan, which involves consolidating data centers and sending more apps and data to the cloud. With nearly 600 locations in 60 countries, the communications infrastructure will…
Vantage Data Centers, a hyperscale data center campus operator located in the United States, and its major investor, Digital Bridge Group, have announced the completion of their acquisition of the PCCW data center business – PCCW DC. Vantage is now ready to provide data center services in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, two high-growth regions in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Vantage Data Centers envisages that much of its Asia Pacific development strategy will materialize now that the acquisition is finalized. The agreement adds 100MW of current capacity to Vantage’s data center platform across numerous locations. Brian Groen, who was previously the senior vice president of data center and digital transformation at PCCW DC, has joined Vantage as president, Asia Pacific (APAC). “Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur are unparalleled connectivity hubs for companies doing business across Asia,” commented Groen. “We have a strong sales pipeline with existing facilities…
Telecommunications company Liberty Global and Digital Colony, a global digital infrastructure investment firm, have announced plans to launch a European Edge data center joint venture, called AtlasEdge Data Center. The Joint Venture (JV) will manage more than 100 edge data centers in Europe, combining the edge assets in the Digital Colony and Liberty Global real estate portfolios. AtlasEdge Data Centers will be directed by Josh Joshi, the former CFO of Interxion. In the new business, Liberty Global will devote its digital infrastructure assets, including technical real estate portfolios, as well as strategic and operational business support. The Digital Colony will contribute operational expertise, strategic direction and capital to provide a foundation for the growth and merger of edge co-location service capabilities across Europe. AtlasEdge will provide services through a wide network of devices close to the consumers and enterprise end users. The company’s goal is to meet the…
Telefonica, a Spanish international telecommunications company, has sold its four Data Centers (DCs) to a leading independent investment management company Asterion Industrial Partners in exchange for a 20 percent stake in the Nabiax hosting business. With this deal, Telefonica is forming a strategic partnership with the company’s current shareholder, Asterion and its co-investors, who retain the remaining 80% of the share capital. Two of the properties sold are located in Chile and two are in Spain. The contract includes an agreement for housing services in the four DCs on identical terms and conditions as set out in the previous transaction. The deal does not include the sale of Telefónica’s owned servers, as well as the management and access to their customers hosted on those servers. As a result, Telefónica will continue providing and managing the services it has offered to its customers from these data centers and will support…
Hosting and colocation service provider Equinix has announced an agreement to purchase a portfolio of 13 data center sites across Canada from BCE Inc., the massive telecommunications and media conglomerate, and the corporate parent of Bell MTS and Bell Canada. The company expects to close this USD 750 million deal in the second half of 2020. The 13 data center sites that will join California-based Equinix’s portfolio represent 25 individual facilities and are expected to generate annual revenues of approximately USD 105 million. In addition to cementing a stronger foothold in the third-largest economy in the Americas, Equinix will also gain more than 600 customers that are currently operating within the Bell data centers. Equinix is already the world’s largest data center and colocation provider, with a network of more than 210 facilities across 55 metros. The company’s main business is hosting the technology infrastructure of third party organizations. “Canadian businesses…
