At its MarketplaceLIVE event in New York City, Digital Realty introduced its PlatformDIGITAL, a global data center platform for helping its data center colocation customers to scale their digital business.
PlatformDIGITAL aims to deliver seamless and dynamic ecosystem connectivity within a Digital Realty data center and throughout its growing portfolio of data centers worldwide.
“With the announcement of PlatformDIGITAL™, we uniquely enable customers to deploy their IT infrastructure at the centers of data exchange around the world, bringing users, things, applications, clouds and networks to the data. Our customers get the advantage of access to fit-for-purpose infrastructure that can power their digital transformations at the scale and speed they require today and into the future,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.
The idea is to provide a trusted foundation that enables Digital Realty’s colocation customers to tailor infrastructure deployments and controls matched to business needs irrespective of data center size, scale, location, configuration or ecosystem interconnections. Globally distributed workflows become possible, thus eliminating data gravity barriers.
Digital Realty also outlined its vision for a Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) that provides a step-by-step strategy to create the new IT architecture required for digital transformation.
Digital Realty said PDx is a prescriptive set of blueprint for its customers based on hundreds of product deployment combinations already present in its data centers. Digital Realty is already providing customers with access to new centers of data exchange in more than 210 data centers deployed on PlatformDIGITAL across 36 metros and 15 countries.
Building on this foundation, Digital Realty is launching four new enterprise IT solutions that can be rapidly deployed on PlatformDIGITAL:
- Network Hub for Rewiring the Network: consolidates and localizes traffic into ingress/egress points to optimize network performance and cost
- Control Hub for Implementing Hybrid IT Controls: hosts adjacent Security & IT controls to improve security posture and IT operations, tailored infrastructure deployments matching hyper-converged infrastructure configurations and density requirements for control points
- Data Hub for Optimizing Data Exchange: localizes data aggregation, staging, analytics, streaming and data management to optimize data exchange and maintain data compliance
- SX Fabric for Interconnecting Global Workflows: adds SDN overlay to service chain multi-cloud and B2B application ecosystems. Connects hubs across metros and regions to enable secure, highly-efficient and distributed workflows.
In addition, Digital Realty is working with Cisco, IBM Cloud and Bridgepointe Technologies on enterprise solutions offered on PlatformDIGITAL. For example, the Cisco Secure Agile Exchange can be deployed as a network hub solution within Digital Realty’s global footprint of data centers.
http://www.digitalrealty.com/platformdigital
Digital Realty + Interxion merger brings scale and interconnectivity
Digital Realty and Interxion agreed to a merger that would create a global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. Under the deal, Interxion shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7067 Digital Realty shares per Interxion share. The transaction values Interxion at approximately $93.48 per ordinary share or approximately $8.4 billion of total enterprise value, including assumed net debt.
Interxion’s European business currently consists of 53 carrier- and cloud-neutral facilities in 11 European countries and 13 metro areas including Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Interxion’s Internet Gateway in Marseille. Its network reaches 700 connectivity providers, 21 European Internet exchanges, and most leading cloud and digital media platforms. Interxion has a robust pipeline of data center development projects currently under construction, with over $400 million invested to date and a total expected investment of approximately $1 billion. These projects represent roughly a 40% expansion of Interxion’s standalone critical load capacity, are significantly pre-leased and are expected to be delivered over the next 24 months, representing a solid pipeline of potential future growth for the combined company.
The companies said their combination will build upon Digital Realty’s successful track record of hyperscale development and will represent an extension of the connected campus strategy that empowers enterprise customers to leverage the right products – from colocation to hyperscale footprints – to create value by efficiently deploying
In Europe, Digital Realty has an established presence in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Dublin. On a global basis, Digital Realty has 220 data centers in 35 top metropolitan areas,
The companies also noted that the merger will provide access to additional capital for investment.
“This strategic and complementary transaction builds upon Digital Realty’s established foundation of serving market demand for colocation, scale and hyperscale requirements in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific and leverages Interxion’s European colocation and interconnection expertise, enhancing the combined company’s capabilities to enable customers to solve for the full spectrum of data center requirements across a global platform,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein. “The transaction is expected to be accretive to the long-term growth trajectory of the combined organization, and to establish a global platform that we believe will significantly enhance our ability to create long-term value for customers, shareholders and employees of both companies.”
“We are excited to deliver this compelling opportunity for all our stakeholders while bolstering our ability to offer a truly global platform to serve our customers’ needs,” said Interxion Chief Executive Officer David Ruberg. “As part of Digital Realty, stakeholders will have the opportunity to continue to reap the benefits of the value that we have created via the communities of interest approach in our carrier- and cloud-neutral European data center portfolio. They will also be able to participate in the value created by extending our approach across Digital Realty’s global footprint, complementary customer base and significant presence in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. We also believe our stakeholders will benefit from Digital Realty’s investment grade balance sheet and lower cost of capital. We look forward to working closely with Bill Stein and the entire Digital Realty team to consummate the transaction and combine the best of our companies to build the world’s preeminent data center provider.”
Additionally:
- Digital Realty CEO A. William Stein will serve as CEO of the combined company
- Digital Realty CFO Andrew P. Power will serve as CFO of the combined company
- Interxion CEO David Ruberg will serve as the Chief Executive of the combined company’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) business, which will be branded “Interxion, a Digital Realty company” at the close of the transaction
