REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and ZURICH, Feb. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced that it has entered into an agreement for the purchase of ICT-Center AG, Zurich's data center operating business in Zurich, Switzerland. The facility, which is adjacent to Equinix's existing Zurich International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers – ZH2 and ZH4 – provides Equinix with the ability to expand its ZH4 IBX data center to further enable interconnection in this key European metro.
Equinix will purchase the asset for less than $5 million. The agreement was signed on February 1, 2017, and the acquisition is expected to close sometime in early April 2017.
Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world – the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the most competitive in the world, while ranked by the European Union as Europe's most innovative country. Businesses in this unique market are increasingly leveraging Equinix's global interconnection platform to accelerate performance and access key markets around the world to gain competitive advantage.
The acquisition of the ICT data center business will be incorporated into the existing ZH4 data center and will enable Equinix to meet customer demand for data center and interconnection services. Equinix's Zurich data centers (ZH1, ZH2, ZH4, ZH5) are tethered together forming a campus environment, providing customers with the ability to easily interconnect with one another in business ecosystems for maximum collaboration across digital supply chains. The Zurich campus also enables businesses to reach 90 percent of Europe within 20ms making Zurich an ideal hub for enterprises with multiple European offices.
The ICT-Center AG acquisition will add approximately 60 cabinets of sold capacity and a total colocation space of approximately 230 cabs. The data center currently has a large number of network customers, which further increases network density at site, as well as global enterprises and financial services companies. With more than 70 networks available at the site this is the most interconnected site in Switzerland.
Today, more than 325 companies collocate in Equinix's Switzerland data centers in Zurich and Geneva to connect to business partners and customers across their digital supply chains. Equinix Switzerland is home to many thriving, diverse business ecosystems, connectivity to major Internet carriers and Switzerland's two largest Internet exchanges: Equinix Internet Exchange and Swiss IX.
Equinix currently operates 150 IBX data centers in 41 markets, providing customers even more ways to connect with other businesses around the world on Platform Equinix™.
"With the right to privacy and data protection enshrined in the Swiss constitution, combined with a fast, sound IT infrastructure, Switzerland continues to be a top destination for international business. We believe this acquisition enables Equinix to provide more capacity and interconnection to customers who leverage Platform Equinix for access to network or cloud connectivity, or accelerate digital transformation."
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers. In 41 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. www.equinix.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements, including statements related to the acquisition of ICT Center's data center operating business in Zurich, Switzerland and the expected benefits from the acquisition. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies or assets we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix, including the ICT-Center data center assets; the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.