Shaw Communications (Canada) buys Viawest (US Datacenters)

[drmike]

Shaw Communications is buying ViaWest, a US datacenter owner for $1.2 billion.

Viawest has 27 datacenters in the United States.

 

[Francisco]

It's 1.2B now? I thought it was 820M....

This is a pretty interesting move. I know shaw had their big-o-pipe brand for a while but that became

Shaw Business Solutions.

I just don't see how a ton of different datacenters makes sense.

Francisco

 

[drmike]

Seems like they are competing with Cogeco who did the Peer1 deal... To me at least it seems that way.

It's mountain top building / consolidation.  Mergers and acquisitions continue to be a relatively strong thing in this extended blah economy in the US.

 

[Francisco]

Seems like they are competing with Cogeco who did the Peer1 deal... To me at least it seems that way.

It's mountain top building / consolidation.  Mergers and acquisitions continue to be a relatively strong thing in this extended blah economy in the US.

Maybe.

It's just an odd purchase to me since Shaw doesn't really offer datacenter space.

Hell, the only datacenters I know of that have/had actual SBS is Rackforce I think (a DC in Kelowna).

Everyone else is just peering POPs with them.

Francisco

 

[drmike]

Maybe.


It's just an odd purchase to me since Shaw doesn't really offer datacenter space.

Well now they per se do.

I am vaguely familiar with ViaWest.  Never toured their datacenters.   Any else here want to comment on their buildouts?  Are they actually the DC owner or sub-leasee with build out in other folks DC's?

$1.2 billion sounds like a lot of cash, but 27 datacenters seems oddly high.  Two could work just fine I suppose.

 

[iWF-Jacob]

Well now they per se do.

I am vaguely familiar with ViaWest.  Never toured their datacenters.   Any else here want to comment on their buildouts?  Are they actually the DC owner or sub-leasee with build out in other folks DC's?

$1.2 billion sounds like a lot of cash, but 27 datacenters seems oddly high.  Two could work just fine I suppose.

The ViaWest location in Portland, OR is pretty nice. Almost put some equipment there.

 

[concerto49]

Well now they per se do.

I am vaguely familiar with ViaWest.  Never toured their datacenters.   Any else here want to comment on their buildouts?  Are they actually the DC owner or sub-leasee with build out in other folks DC's?

$1.2 billion sounds like a lot of cash, but 27 datacenters seems oddly high.  Two could work just fine I suppose.

Yeah they own a lot of the DCs. At least the suites. We're with them in Dallas for some of our servers. Pretty nice. Nothing's changed so far.