Equinix, the global interconnection and data center company, will acquire the bare metal cloud startup Packet, the leading bare metal automation platform. The six-year-old startup provides bare-metal cloud services. Packet moved into edge computing a couple of years ago. With the acquisition, Equinix aims to accelerate its strategy to help enterprises seamlessly deploy hybrid multi-cloud infrastructures. The deal is expected to bolster the data center company’s edge computing capabilities.
"Packet's innovative and agile bare metal service, and neutral approach to software stacks, fit our own cloud-neutral model and match our strategy for helping enterprises flexibly deploy digital infrastructure, within minutes, at a global scale. Our combined strengths will further empower companies to be everywhere they need to be, to interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their business," said Sara Baack, Chief Product Officer, Equinix.
Equinix plans to combine Packet's innovative and developer-oriented bare metal service offering with its interconnection capabilities and organic bare metal efforts. According to the company, it intends to create an enterprise-grade bare-metal offering across Platform Equinix allowing customers to rapidly deploy digital infrastructure. By acquiring Packet, Equinix will add important new on-demand deployment alternatives that meet the market's full range of use cases.
"The incorporation of Packet into Equinix will accelerate the delivery of enhanced edge services to Equinix's growing customer base while continuing to serve the developer community that has come to rely on Packet's unique offering," said Zachary Smith, CEO, Packet.
The data center colocation giant has more than 200 data centers in 55 markets globally. The deal will pave the way for Equinix to cloud services, a new market for the company. Combined with Packet, Equinix can soon become a cloud provider. The companies will disclose additional details of the deal upon completion of the acquisition. Equinix anticipates the Packet acquisition to close during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2020. Expanding its global footprint, Equinix has spent over $11 billion on 15 substantial purchases over the last ten years.
