The deal, announced in December, has expanded Equinix’s global footprint by adding 10 data centre across Australia, bringing Equinix’s total number of International Business Exchange (IBX) centres in Australia to 15 facilities. It will also see about 60 employees will join the Equinix team in Asia-Pacific as part of the acquisition.
Metronode’s assets add more than 860,000 sq ft of land, 90% of which is owned, to the global portfolio of Equinix. These sites add approximately 215,000 sq ft of gross colocation space in Australia.
"The acquisition of Metronode ensures Equinix will continue to strengthen its leadership position in the Asia-Pacific region and support our ongoing global expansion while further enabling Australia's digital economy,” said Samuel Lee, president of Equinix Asia-Pacific.
The Equinix footprint in the Asia-Pacific region now includes 40 data centres and extends the company's global footprint to 200 data centres across 52 markets, enabling customers with increased capacity to enhance their IT infrastructure at the digital edge with Platform Equinix.
The move adds four new markets – Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth – alongside its present operations in Sydney and Melbourne, accelerating interconnection and digital edge deployments nationwide.
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 centres 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.
Commenting on the news, Jabez Tan, research director of Structure Research, said: “Equinix is doubling down in priority markets and breaking into emerging markets in a meaningful way through this acquisition. Meeting customer demand for multi-site campus locations and submarine cable connectivity while also providing hyperscale cloud verticals, places Equinix in a leading position in the Australian market.”
Additionally, the Metronode site in Perth will become the landing station for the new 4,6000km Vocus Australia Singapore Cable (ASC). Vocus Communications begun laying the ASC cable, which links Perth to Singapore via Jakarta and Christmas Island, last month.
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.
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
Lee added: “Equinix is increasingly helping customers to digitally transform their businesses through deploying high-level interconnections taking their infrastructure, applications and services closer to customers and partners."
Digital transformation could add as much as A$45 billion (approximately $35 billion) to Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2021, according to new joint research from Microsoft and IDC.
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.
"Equinix is committed to matching the growth of our customers and meeting their demands for digital transformation and innovation,” said Jeremy Deutsch, managing director of Equinix Australia.
“This acquisition expands our national footprint and will enable us to help our customers interconnect at the digital edge throughout Australia. We are thrilled to already see very strong demand from our existing customers and potential new customers, each expressing their desire to expand into the enlarged Platform Equinix across Australia.”
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 (approximately $804m).
Commenting on the deal at the end of 2017, David Yuile, then CEO of Metronode, said: "With this acquisition, companies operating across Australia will have access to the largest network of highly interconnected data centres in the world. Metronode is excited to become part of an industry-leading company and further help our customers to build their digital infrastructure and drive competitive advantage in the digital age."
Earlier this month, Equinix announced that it had completed its $800 million acquisition of the Infomart Dallas facility from ASB Real Estate Investments.
