Equinix, Inc. has announced that it has entered into an agreement for the purchase of ICT-Center AG, Zurich's data center operating business in Zurich, Switzerland. The facility, which is adjacent to Equinix's existing Zurich International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers — ZH2 and ZH4 — provides Equinix with the ability to expand its ZH4 IBX data center to further enable interconnection in this key European metro.

Equinix will purchase the asset for less than $5 million. The agreement was signed on February 1, 2017, and the acquisition is expected to close sometime in early April 2017.  

Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world — the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report currently ranks Switzerland's economy as the most competitive in the world¹, while ranked by the European Union as Europe's most innovative country². Businesses in this unique market are increasingly leveraging Equinix's global interconnection platform to accelerate performance and access key markets around the world to gain competitive advantage.

"With the right to privacy and data protection enshrined in the Swiss constitution, combined with a fast, sound IT infrastructure, Switzerland continues to be a top destination for international business. We believe this acquisition enables Equinix to provide more capacity and interconnection to customers who leverage Platform Equinix for access to network or cloud connectivity, or accelerate digital transformation," said Eric Schwartz, president, EMEA, Equinix.

The acquisition of the ICT data center business will be incorporated into the existing ZH4 data center and will enable Equinix to meet customer demand for data center and interconnection services. Equinix's Zurich data centers (ZH1, ZH2, ZH4, ZH5) are tethered together forming a campus environment, providing customers with the ability to easily interconnect with one another in business ecosystems for maximum collaboration across digital supply chains. The Zurich campus also enables businesses to reach 90% of Europe within 20 ms making Zurich an ideal hub for enterprises with multiple European offices.

The ICT-Center AG acquisition will add approximately 60 cabinets of sold capacity and a total colocation space of approximately 230 cabs. The data center currently has a large number of network customers, which further increases network density at site, as well as global enterprises and financial services companies. With more than 70 networks available at the site this is the most interconnected site in Switzerland.

Today, more than 325 companies collocate in Equinix's Switzerland data centers in Zurich and Geneva to connect to business partners and customers across their digital supply chains. Equinix Switzerland is home to many thriving, diverse business ecosystems, connectivity to major Internet carriers and Switzerland's two largest Internet exchanges: Equinix Internet Exchange and Swiss IX.

Equinix currently operates 150 IBX data centers in 41 markets, providing customers even more ways to connect with other businesses around the world on Platform Equinix™.

1. "Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017" (PDF). World Economic Forum. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GCR2016-2017/05FullReport/TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2016-2017_FINAL.pdf

2. "European Innovation Scoreboard – European Commission". Retrieved 2016-12-13. http://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/facts-figures/scoreboards_en