As Colocation Market Consolidates – Who are the Market Leaders?

RENO, NV, June 25, 2015

New Q1 data from Synergy Research Group shows the leaders in the worldwide colocation market, with Equinix generating the most colocation revenue and achieving a 9.5% market share. It is followed by Digital Realty, NTT, Verizon, CenturyLink, KDDI, Global Switch and China Telecom. The top twelve ranking features six colocation specialists and six telcos, though four of those telcos have achieved their standing in large part via the acquisition of companies that had substantial colocation product lines. It is particularly notable that market consolidation continues to play a large part in the market, with the top three companies all being active participants. Equinix is in the process of acquiring tenth ranked TelecityGroup; Digital Realty is reportedly seeking to acquire top 20 player Telx; and NTT has just closed the latest in a series of data center and cloud-oriented investments, having acquired a majority stake in EMEA wholesale colocation specialist e-shelter. In aggregate the top twelve colocation providers account for almost 40% of the total worldwide market. There is then a long tail of smaller providers, each with 1% or less market share. Nine of the top twelve colocation providers generate the bulk of their revenues from retail colocation, while three are focused primarily on wholesale. This split reflects the segmentation of the colocation market, where retail revenues outstrip wholesale revenues by a factor of over three to one.

“There is no doubt that we will see further consolidation in the colocation market over the next five years,” said John Dinsdale, a Chief Analyst and Research Director at Synergy Research Group. “An ever-larger portion of the market is driven by service provider clients rather than enterprises, and this is helping fuel a need for both scale and breadth of geographic footprint. While they carry some risks, acquisitions are much faster than organic build in achieving the desired scale.”