April, in particular, has seen an unprecedented surge in internet traffic volume, experiencing upwards of 40% during peak times, according to Fastly, which emphasizes the need for the arising challenges to be addressed within the industry. Service providers in the telecom sector are expanding their operations to meet the heightened demand for their internet and connectivity services.
Here’s our round-up of movements happening in the tech and telecom world this month.
Industry Mergers and Acquisitions
Cisco anticipating acquisition of Fluidmesh Networks
Cisco has publicly announced their intention to acquire Fluidmesh Networks by Q4 of the fiscal year 2020. By utilizing the privately-held company’s wireless backhaul systems to support new mission-critical assets and applications, Cisco is expecting to extend their existing leadership in industrial wireless deployment.Vantage Data Centers to acquire Next Generation DataVantage Data Centers has signed a definitive agreement with Next Generation Data’s current owner, InfraVia Capital Partners, to acquire the company. This acquisition will provide access to Europe’s largest data center campus which currently houses 72MW of power, and another 108MW of expansion capacity.
MIRA obtains 88% stake in Airtrunk
Leading alternative asset management company, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Asset (MIRA), has officially acquired an 88% stake in Airtrunk. Although the acquisition was announced earlier this year, the deal was only closed in early April.Engagement with the Australian data center company will expand MIRA’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region, and will allow MIRA to take advantage of the long-term revenue streams and demand stability that hyperscale data centre providers typically experience, and that investors are often attracted to, according to Robin Khuda, founder and CEO, AirTrunk.
Accenture acquires Revolutionary Security
The acquisition of Revolutionary Security will enforce enterprise cybersecurity for IT and operational technology (OT) environments within Accenture.The provision of greater end-to-end solutions will help to better protect Accenture’s clients and their organisations across their entire ecosystem, according to Kelly Bissell, Senior Managing Director, Accenture Security.
PayPal data center campus acquired by Landmark Dividend
California-based real estate development company, Landmark Dividend, has acquired PayPal’s facility in Phoenix, Arizona, for $122m in a sale-leaseback deal. PayPal still remains a tenant of the campus which holds three data centers.
Global Data Center Expansion
Big Data Exchange expands into Southeast Asia after Telstra data center acquisition
Big Data Exchange (BDx) has purchased a data center previously owned and operated by Telstra in Paya Lebar, Singapore. The Tier III data center houses 1800 racks (600 more than in BDx’s primary data center in Guangzhou, China) and has 7.3MW of power capacity.This acquisition will work to fulfil the increasing demand for the company’s cloud and content exchange services by extending their supply of critical connectivity to users in the Southeast Asian market.
Digital Realty commences operation of Singapore data center
April 2020 has seen Digital Realty commence operation of its third data center, which is located on Loyang Drive in Singapore.This expansion not only consolidates the investment company’s presence in Singapore, but also seeks to bolster their position within the financial technology sector.
Global Data Center in Israel plans to construct underground data center hub
The plan to build a $30m underground data center facility in the city of Petah Tikva, Israel, is well underway. Its construction is expected to be completed by the end of this year, and commercial operation is set to commence in 2021.Although there is a relatively small data center market in Israel specifically, cloud providers view the facility more so as a gateway into the Middle East more broadly.
Network Fabric and Connectivity Partnerships
Compute Express Link and Gen-Z committed to low latency sharing
The Compute Express Link (CXL) Consortium and Gen-Z Consortium have signed a collaboration MOU to establish their partnership in providing low-latency sharing of memory and storage resource pools for processing engines.This collaboration will seek to promote interoperability between the two company’s complementary technologies, being CXL’s systematic computing and Gen-Z’s fabric connectivity.
QTS Deploys Megaport in Seven Additional Data Centers
Megaport has expanded its network fabric to seven additional QTS data centers as part of QTS’ multi-phased approach to expand its carrier-neutral cloud ecosystem and simplify customer network strategies.The expansion responds to increasing customer demand for diverse cloud connectivity options from QTS customers.
Developments in the Cloud Space
BlackRock’s investment platform hosted by Microsoft’s Azure cloud
BlackRock has shifted their investment platform to Microsoft Azure. Known as Aladdin, the platform provides an end-to-end operating system for investment professionals, which will see the development of its innovation and computing scale as a result of the partnership, according to Microsoft.
‘Project Tempo’ to kickstart Amazon’s infiltration of video game market
Amazon’s ‘Project Tempo’ forms part of the cloud giant’s longer-term plan to enter the market for video games. This will entail the production of new games, as well as the integration of the $970m acquisition of Twitch, a leading live streaming platform for gamers.
Google plans fiber optic cable between Italy and India through Israel
The proposed ‘Blue-Raman’ cable is set to massively expand Google’s global fiberoptic network and will be divided into two due to the geopolitics of the areas. The ‘Raman’ side will run from Mumbai and end in the Jordanian port of Aqaba while the ‘Blue’ portion will begin in Genoa and cross through Israel to complete the link in Aqaba. Estimated at $400 billion and set to reach Israel in 2022, Google has partnered with Telecom Italia’s Sparkle subsidiary and the Omani telecom company Omantel.
As we move through 2020, there’s no doubt that we’ll continue to see big moves play out in the tech and telecom space for mergers and acquisitions as well as service expansion; businesses need network and colocation services now more than ever.
