Liberty Global, Digital Colony partner for AtlasEdge Data Centres joint venture
Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA, LBTYB and LBTYK) and Digital Colony have agreed to create a joint venture, called AtlasEdge Data Centres, to enter the European edge data center market. The joint venture, which will begin business when the transaction at its foundation closes in the third quarter of this year, will have four Liberty Global media brands as anchor tenants.
AtlasEdge will seek to serve the edge data center services needs of cloud providers, streaming services, and enterprises. Liberty Global, which owns several European cable MSOs, will contribute digital infrastructure assets as well as strategic and operational support. Digital Colony, which is already invested in the data center services business (see, for example, “Digital Colony, EQT to buy fiber-optic network services supplier Zayo” and "Digital Colony buys data center assets, launches Scala to serve Latin American hyperscale data center requirements") will provide operating expertise, strategic direction, and capital. AtlasEdge will be run by Josh Joshi as executive chairman of the joint venture’s board of directors. Joshi’s more than 20 years of experience in the digital infrastructure sector includes a stint as CFO of European edge data center services provider Interxion.
“Combining Liberty Global’s technical real estate and track record in building successful, sustainable businesses with Digital Colony’s expertise in digital infrastructure investment creates an exciting platform for growth that will deliver long-term value,” commented Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global. “The proposed joint venture presents significant growth opportunities as we look to build this business into a leading European edge data center operator. Furthermore, since several of our operating companies will become anchor tenants, Liberty Global customers will also benefit from better and more responsive services.” Those operating companies will include Virgin Media in the UK and in Ireland, Sunrise-UPC in Switzerland, and UPC in Poland.
“We are excited to be partnering with Liberty Global on the development of AtlasEdge,” added Marc Ganzi, president and CEO of Colony Capital and CEO of Digital Colony. “The proposed joint venture will unlock the growth potential of Liberty’s digital real estate holdings and capitalize on the emerging demand we are seeing for edge compute across Europe. It’s an opportunity for us to apply the entire Digital Colony value-add playbook, leveraging our operating expertise, strategic M&A capabilities, and access to institutional capital in partnership with a world-class organization like Liberty Global. I also know AtlasEdge will benefit from Josh Joshi’s insights and network across the digital infrastructure landscape.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
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