Equinix to buy 24 data center sites from Verizon in $3.6 billion deal

Data center giant Equinix has revealed plans to buy 24 data center sites and their associated operations from Verizon in a $3.6 billion all-cash deal.

Founded in 1998, Redwood City, Calif.-based Equinix already offered more than 150 data centers to companies and cloud-service providers in 40 markets, and boasts some big-name clients, such as Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. Its 24 new sites will be spread across 15 metro areas in the U.S. and Latin America, with the deal expanding its existing presence in some areas and opening the door to a handful of completely new markets, namely Bogotá, Culpeper, and Houston.

“It enables us to enhance cloud and network density to continue to attract enterprises, while expanding our presence in the Americas,” explained Steve Smith, president and CEO of Equinix, in a press release. “The new assets will bring hundreds of new customers to Platform Equinix, while establishing a presence in new markets and expanding our footprint in existing key metros.”

Alongside the infrastructure, Equinix says that it will acquire 900 new customers from Verizon as part of the deal, which it expects to close in the middle of 2017.

Assuming the deal is seen through to completion, the company will count a total of 175 data centers in 43 markets across Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions.