Compass Datacenters has acquired Montreal-based wholesale colocation provider Root Data Center, following additional funding from its current investors.
After acquiring Root’s data centers, Compass will operate 375MW of capacity across its current campuses. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Coming to Canada
Root operates two data centers in Montreal and will have a total capacity of 65MW once the company is finished expanding its MTL-R1 data center. Once the acquisition closes the two facilities will be Compass' first in Canada.
Root uses modular design elements in its facilities and claims that its MTL-R2 site is the largest wholesale data center in Canada.
The company claims that it has a PUE of 1.2, can deploy 1-3MW of capacity in less than 150 days, and that its data centers surpass Uptime Institute Tier III requirements. Root's data centers have not been certified by the Uptime Institute.
AJ Byers, CEO of Root, who is joining Compass as the company’s president of international, said: “We are excited to join the Compass team. Our existing customers now have access to strategic US markets, while Compass’ customers benefit from what Montreal brings. In particular, Montreal’s ample fiber capacity and inexpensive supply of renewable power via Hydro-Québec enables cloud/hyperscale companies to achieve their sustainability goals while also growing at the pace necessary to meet demand.”
Kelly Morgan, VP of research at 451 Group, said: “With this acquisition, Compass immediately becomes one of the top three wholesale providers in Montreal and gains an experienced management team there that can enable continued expansion in the area and beyond.”
Last week, Compass announced its plan to develop up to $3 billion in new data center campuses. The scheme was aided by follow-on investment from long time investors RedBird Capital Partners and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, as well as new investment from Israeli real estate developer the Azrieli Group Ltd.
Compass has already begun building the first two data centers in its Goodyear, Arizona hyperscale campus. Once fully built out, the campus will contain eight data centers with a total of 350MW capacity on site.
Compass is also constructing its first data center in Northern Virginia. The 6MW Loudoun County facility will be the first data center as part of a planned 75MW campus.
