AT&T will sell its data center colocation operations and assets to Brookfield Infrastructure and its institutional partners for $1.1 billion. This includes 18 Internet Data Centers (IDCs) in the United States and 13 outside the United States.
Brookfield is establishing a wholly-owned company to own and operate the assets. Customer contracts, employees supporting the colocation operations, fixed assets, leased and owned facilities will transfer to Brookfield. The colocation data center operations serve a diversified customer base of more than 1,000 companies.
AT&T said it will continue to deliver network services to its customers at the IDCs. Funds from the sale will be used to pay down debt. AT&T will become an active sales channel for the Brookfield business and will be the anchor tenant of the colocation operations.
Brookfied intends to appoint Tim Caulfield as CEO of the business. Caulfield is currently CEO of ANTARA Group, an IT management consultancy focused on the Internet-as-a-Service segment with extensive experience in data center services.
AT&T noted that will continue to offer customers access to colocation services at more than 350 data centers — including transferred IDCs — around the world as part of AT&T’s colocation ecosystem program.
AT&T's ongoing services to businesses include:
- Data Center Connectivity – Ethernet, Internet and VPN.
- AT&T NetBond for Cloud – a scalable, predictable and highly secure connection to the cloud.
- AT&T FlexWare – Simplifies delivering and deploying software-based functions like routers and firewalls using SDN and NFV. It streamlines network infrastructure and has the potential to lower businesses’ capital investments.
- Cloud and Data Center Consulting – consultation and design around data center, cloud and network migrations.
- Brookfield's investments include one of the largest portfolios of office properties in the world, an infrastructure business spanning utilities, transport, energy, communications infrastructure and sustainable resources, and one of the largest pure-play renewable power businesses with more than 200 hydroelectric facilities.
In 2017, Verizon sold its 29 data centers and their operations to Equinix in a deal valued at $3.6 billion in cash. This includes 29 data centers are located across 15 cities in North and Latin America and over 1,000 customers.
