|
Colorado-based Inflow, which last week announced a massive global reorganisation, has sold its Dublin data centre to Irish company Data Electronics Group.
Although officials from both companies would not comment on the value of the deal, it is thought that Data Electronics paid substantially less than the USD15.8 million it cost Inflow to build the unit, which became operational only 14 months ago. And although Data Electronics is now the new owner of the former Inflow facility, the management at Inflow Ireland are thought to have gained some level of interest in the unit, or the possibility of a future share in the business.
"What is important here is that we managed to retain the business, its customers, the staff as well as our way of doing business," Joseph O'Keeffe, the former managing director for Inflow Ireland told ElectricNews.Net. O'Keeffe, along with all of Inflow's 10 other workers will stay on board following the transaction. O'Keeffe said that over the next few months Inflow will slowly be integrated into the Data Electronics brand.
Meanwhile the move is a third coup for the 26-year-old Data Electronics Group, which acquired the assets of another failed Irish IDC, the Wolfe Group, in January 2002. Only weeks before the company bought the Wolfe Group it was also named the home of INEX, Ireland's Internet neutral peering exchange. The former Inflow facility will become Data Electronics' ninth data centre in Ireland.
Data Electronics spent around EUR475,000 for the Wolfe Group's assets, about 75 percent of what it cost to establish that company's operations, excluding the IEP1.5 million the Wolfe Group spent on its facility.
Data Electronics is a hosting company that mainly serves large clients such as airlines and telcos. Liam Kehoe, a former senior network designer at Aer Lingus, founded it in 1976. It employed around 40 in Ireland before Tuesday's deal and some of its major co-location clients are Bloomberg, Toyota Ireland, VIA networks and Equant.
Another important aspect of the acquisition is the right Data Electronics Group will have to use FlowTrack, Inflow's enterprise data centre management software suite that automates the delivery of complex hosting services.
"Strategically, this acquisition is another step in the growth path of Data Electronics and represents an important development for the group," said Maurice Mortell chief executive officer of Data Electronics. "By accelerating our programme for the provision of managed services by two years, it will cement our position as leaders in our market in Ireland."
But the data centre sector in Ireland and around the world has been facing some rather severe trouble in recent months. Most of the big players, including Inflow, TeleCity, CityReach, Metromedia Fiber Network and Exodus have all experienced considerable financial difficulties. But despite this, both O'Keeffe and Mortell told ElectricNews.Net that they thought the industry had stabilised and is now poised for growth.
Analyst firm IDC agrees. In its most recent figures the research firm said that it expects the hosting market to more than triple from USD4.8 billion in 2001, to USD16.1 billion in 2005, and managed services will account for as much as 80 percent of the market in 2005. But IDC noted that new entrants to this market have difficulty moving to profitability due to the extremely capital intensive nature of the business.
|
