Equinix acquires data centres player GPX India for $161 million

Data centres player Equinix on August 11 announced the acquisition of GPX Global Systems' India operations for $161 million (around Rs 1,202 crore) in an all cash deal. GPX India has a fibre-connected campus in Mumbai with two datacentres and the deal is expected to close by March 2021 after mandatory approvals.

It can be noted that interest in the datacentres space has been going up over the last few years in India, with investments or big commitments being made. Policies like insistence on data localisation is being credited for the high interest. Equinix will be adding more than 1,350 cabinets through the acquisition of the two data centres, which will go up by 500 after the full buildout and the facilities will add more than 90,000 square feet of colocation space when fully built, a statement said.

GPX serves cloud service operators, including Amazon Direct Connect, Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Fastconnect, it said. Its facilities also host key internet exchanges such as Mumbai IX-DECIX, AMS-IX India, Extreme IX and Bharat IX, the statement said.

"India represents the second largest internet user base in the world, with consumption expected to grow with the continued advancement of internet infrastructure, smartphone ownership and the penetration of 4G and 5G,” Equinix's president and chief executive Charles Meyers said.

He said the GPX transaction will allow it to capitalise on this market opportunity and also mark a giant leap forward in terms of growing its ecosystem in India, Meyers added.

'Platform Equinix' has 210 data centres globally across 56 metros in 26 countries and serves over 9,500 of the world's leading businesses, including over half of Fortune 500 companies.