Interxion expands into Southeast Europe with Croatian colocation provider buyout

Digital Realty-owned colocation provider Interxion is expanding its server farm footprint in southeast Europe through the acquisition of Croatian carrier-neutral datacentre operator Altus IT.

The acquisition will see Interxion add more than 100 customers to its ranks, and a further 50 connectivity partners to its roll-call of European carriers.  

As a result, its parent company Digital Realty’s overall global footprint is set to increase to more than 700 connectivity partners, spanning over 280 datacentres, across 22 countries.

As previously reported by Computer Weekly, since its October 2019 mega-merger with US-based Digital Realty, Interxion has been responsible for overseeing the running of the two firms’ combined operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Prior to the acquisition, Altus IT billed itself as Croatia’s first carrier independent datacentre operator, and claimed its facility in Zagreb, the country’s capital, had 2,000 fibre optic network connections linked to both local and global telco providers. The facility is also home to the Croatian Internet Exchange (CIX).

David Ruberg, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Interxion, said the Altus IT acquisition marks a significant step in its push to expand its operations even further within Europe.

“Altus IT’s business strategy is closely aligned with our connectivity-centric and customer-focused approach,” he said.

“Southeast Europe offers significant economic potential, and the acquisition of Altus IT represents an important step and our first gateway into that market. With the addition of Altus IT, we will be even better positioned to help new and existing customers continue to scale communities of interest.”

The acquisition will see no major changes within the management structure and staffing of Altus IT, with its current CEO Goran Doreski set to assume the role of managing director for Croatia for Interxion.

“This is a huge milestone, and we are excited to join the Digital Realty platform and open new opportunities for accelerated growth with our customers and partners,” said Doreski.

As well as its expansion into Croatia, Interxion has also set out plans to increase its local datacentre footprint in Madrid, Spain, with the acquisition of a 3.6-acre plot of land within a kilometre of its existing colocation campus in the region.

The Altus IT deal, meanwhile, is the latest in a long line of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that have taken place within the colocation market this year, with figures released in April 2020 revealing that the number of deals closed in 2020 had already exceeded those completed throughout the whole of 2019.

The surge in deals this year has been previously attributed to the ongoing demand for colocation capacity by hyperscale cloud and internet firms, which has markedly increased since the start of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.