US data center firm Evocative has acquired a number of data centers from INAP.
Evocative recently reverted back to that name after operating under the VPLS brand for several years after acquiring the company in 2019.
The renamed company has purchased nine INAP data centers and its related colocation and network services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquired facilities are located in Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles (2), Silicon Valley (2), and Seattle. INAP has not commented on the acquisition.
“Foremost, we welcome our new clients and employees to Evocative. We are honored and humbled to be your new partner. We are excited to share the strength of Evocative's digital infrastructure capabilities with our clients," said Arman Khalili, CEO of Evocative. “We know the importance of enterprise digital enablement. We built a company that offers a comprehensive suite of solutions from the physical foundation up the stack to enable the delivery of highly secure, hosted data services.”
The deal, set to close during Q3 of 2022, will Evocative’s total data center footprint to 20 operating data centers and over 60 Points of Presence in the US; the company will operate 1,080,000 square feet (100,335 sqm) of data center space with 'significant expansion space,' as well as 108MW of available power with an additional 25 percent expansion capability.
Additionally, Evocative said it plans to welcome several INAP employees in roles related to the asset acquisition, saying the deal would increase its workforce by 30 percent as a result.
Prior to this announcement, INAP operated more than 30 data centers globally, with the majority located in the US. INAP retains facilities in Chicago, Illinois (x3); Dallas, Texas (x1); New Jersey/New York (x2); Virginia (x1); Phoenix, Arizona (x3); Seattle, Washington (x1); and Silicon Valley, California (x3). Internationally, it operates four data centers in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; three in Singapore; and one in Sydney.
In March 2020, INAP filed for bankruptcy, before restructuring and emerging with CFO Michael Scioli promoted to CEO.
Since then the company has expanded its main Los Angeles data center by 1.8MW, but otherwise remained largely quiet.
In May of this year, INAP sold its network business to network service provider Unitas Global and was set to become a Unitas Global customer. The deal also included the whole INAP Japan business.
INAP Japan was excluded from the 2020 bankruptcy, along with other non-US subsidiaries including iWeb in Canada. iWeb has since been sold to Leaseweb.
Evocative rebrands from VPLS
The INAP acquisition is Evocative’s first announcement since rebranding the company from VPLS.
Founded in 1999 and originally focused on the US west coast, Evocative Data Centers acquired VPLS in 2019, subsequently rebranding under the newly bought company's name. The company announced earlier this week that it was reverting under the Evocative name.
“We see massive benefit in consolidating our affiliate brands into a single brand - Evocative,” said Khalili, who joined Evocative Data Centers as CEO in 2017. “Unifying all Evocative affiliate brands as one allows us to seamlessly share our full suite of services and capabilities, while driving differentiated value for our customers.”
