Acquisition boosts Equinix’s Australian data centre portfolio to 15

Data centre operator Equinix has completed its acquisition of Metronode, adding 10 data centres to its Australian portfolio.

The Metronode facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and the Illawarra boost Equinix’s Australian data centres to 15. Prior to the acquisition, Equinix had one Melbourne and four Sydney data centres.

Equinix said that deal added 80,000 square metres of land and 20,000 square metres of colocation space to the company’s Australian footprint. Some 60 Metronode employees are shifting to Equinix as part of the acquisition.

Details of the $1.035 billion all-cash deal were first revealed in December.

Among the Metronode facilities are two data centres built for the New South Wales government’s GovDC project.

The Metronode Perth data centre will be the landing site for Vocus’s Australia Singapore Cable.

Metronode was previously owned by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. (Vocus in 2016 acquired Nextgen’s fibre assets as well the North West Cable System and Australia Singapore Cable development projects, leaving Metronode as Nextgen Group’s only remaining asset.)

“This acquisition expands our national footprint and will enable us to help our customers interconnect at the digital edge throughout Australia,” said Equinix Australia managing director Jeremy Deutsch.

“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.”

Metronode “has a strong customer base and track record in government at both the State and Federal levels and Equinix is looking forward to further supporting Australian government agencies across the country,” Deutsch wrote in a blog entry.

Equinix will “continue to expand in Australia,” Deutsch wrote.