"NTT Communications is one of the largest international communications solution provider around the globe. While the company has a huge presence in Asia, it also has multiple data centers scattered throughout the United States, South America and Europe. With a practically unmatched global presence, NTT Communications made a few interesting moves recently that should only serve to strengthen its role within the data center, colocation and enterprise communications arenas.
NTT Communications Acquires Virtela
On October 28, NTT Communications announced it reached an agreement to acquire Virtela, a leading global managed and cloud network services company. The acquisition carries a transaction price of $525 million.
“NTT Com and Virtela share a vision for passionate customer support and enhanced customer experience and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our customers and partners to deliver even higher value,” said Virtela President Ron Haigh, speaking about the acquisition.
This is a significant development in the industry, as NTT’s global ICT infrastructure and Virtela’s premium operational platforms make an optimal pairing when it comes to delivering cloud networking and data center services to businesses around the world. Virtela is headquartered in Denver, providing cloud services out of its Denver data center location among many others. It currently provides managed services to more than 500 customers positioned across the globe, and its acquisition by NTT Communications is expected to enhance its offerings.
Specifically, the acquisition will bring these two major companies together to provide a single partner for businesses to receive major benefits. NTT Communications currently operates in 160 countries and regions, but with Virtela, this will be expanded to more than 190. NTT also leveraged Virtela’s networking function virtualization to boost its offerings with the integration of firewalls and WAN accelerators. This means that enterprises can now benefit from significant cost savings and instant service activation through the virtualization of network equipment.
“Virtela is well known for its strong technology, networking expertise, global reach and highly regarded services,” said Akira Arima, CEO of NTT Com. “As we advance our Global Cloud Vision, we expect to continue offering enterprise customers the highest possible value in services ranging from branch office networking to large-scale cloud migration.”
NTT Communications Acquires Stake in RagingWire Data Centers
NTT also announced on October 28 the acquisition of an 80 percent stake in RagingWire Data Centers, another leading data center services provider in the United States. The $350 million acquisition was completed following a series of negotiations with RagingWire shareholders. NTT announced that RagingWire has seen impressive growth in recent years, with a 30 percent compound annual growth rate and annual revenues totaling $85 million.
This acquisition is also major news, especially as far as NTT’s U.S. data center space is concerned, since the development will effectively double its space in the country. The move was reportedly made as part of continued efforts to enhance its North America offerings.
“We are rapidly expanding our capabilities to provide cloud and telecommunications solutions worldwide and the deal with RagingWire is critical to increasing our overall capacity, providing data center infrastructure management tools which enhance colocation service’s reliability and efficiency,” said Arima. “RagingWire leads the data center industry in availability, innovation and customer experience, and that will enhance our global cloud solutions significantly.”
RagingWire has been in operation since 2000, employing approximately 300 people and managing roughly 650,000 square feet of data center space in its Ashburn, Va., and Sacramento colocation facilities. NTT Communications also made this strategic move to capitalize on the United States data center market, as this area makes up roughly half of global demand and has doubled in the last three years alone."
