First Verizon, Now Slough: Equinix Buys IO’s UK Data Centres

Data centre operator Equinix has expanded its footprint in the UK by acquiring IO UK’s data centre operating business in Slough, just outside of London, for an undisclosed sum.

The facility, which will be renamed LD10, is close to Equinix’s existing Slough data centre campus and will help the company meet growing demands for digital infrastructure connectivity in the UK and Europe.

Once it has been fully completed, LD10 will add approximately 350 cabinets of sold capacity and a total colocation space of approximately 3,340, so offers plenty of space to grow into.

UK data centre

Equinix plans to link LD10 to its other Slough data centres (LD4, LD5 and LD6), which already offer low-latency connectivity from London to markets such as New York (30 milliseconds) and Frankfurt (4 milliseconds).

Eric Schwartz, president for EMEA at Equinix, said the deal is an important one because “London remains a global economic engine, with leading enterprises and cloud service providers making it a primary hub for IT infrastructure.”

This acquisition follows on from its recent $3.6 billion (£2.8bn) purchase of 24 data centre sites from Verizon and the acquisition of Japanese data centre provider Bit-isle for $280 million (£182m) in 2015.

In March the company also announced plans for an aggressive 2016 growth strategy, with new data centres in Tokyo, Dallas, Sao Paulo, and Sydney, bringing its total to over 145 colocation facilities in 40 markets.

As well as Slough, Equinix also has facilities in Manchester, but faces competition from the likes of UKFast which recently announced it will be carrying out a £2.3 million upgrade to its Manchester data centre complex.

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