Equinix has reached an agreement to acquire BT Group’s Irish data center business for €59 million ($61.3 million). The deal, expected to close in the first half of 2025, includes two operational data centers located in CityWest and Ballycoolin, Dublin.
“The deal builds on our existing successful partnership with Equinix and ensures that customers will benefit from top-tier data center services nationally and globally, allowing BT to specialize in our core strengths in cloud, networking, and security,” said Shay Walsh, managing director at BT Ireland.
BT’s decision to divest its data center operations is part of a broader strategy to shift away from owning and running data centers, opting instead to partner with globally scaled organizations.
The CityWest data center is a 10MW, carrier-neutral, purpose-built facility with two independent data center buildings spanning 120,000 sq ft (11,148 sqm) in CityWest Business Park on the south side of Dublin. Meanwhile, the Ballycoolin data center is a 3.5MW, 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sqm) facility on Dublin’s north side, featuring 7,000 sq ft (650 sqm) of fully allocated data halls. The facility is fully carrier-neutral and hosts four different network providers on-site.
As part of the acquisition, Equinix will oversee the transition of these facilities from BT into its global network in the coming months.
“We look forward to working closely with BT to ensure a seamless transition, welcoming their data center team and customers to Equinix and bringing the scale, expertise, and investment that next-generation data center facilities require for excellent service delivery for organizations in Ireland and globally,” said Peter Lantry, managing director of Equinix Ireland.
Equinix currently operates six data centers in Dublin. In 2022, the company joined a number of data center developers in pausing new projects in the city due to a de facto moratorium imposed by EirGrid, which cited high energy demand from existing data centers. As a result, EirGrid has stated that it will not connect new data centers for the foreseeable future, potentially until 2028.
