The Datacenter Group (TDCG) has acquired the data centre infrastructure of NovoServe in Doetinchem and Enschede, in the eastern part of the Netherlands.
By selling its two data centres, NovoServe is able to apply focus to its international IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) hosting activities, whilst TDCG expands its regional coverage.
This acquisition therefore benefits the growth strategy of both companies. Through focus on core activities both businesses are able to realise their ambitions for growth.
The acquisition was preceded by almost a year of research in which both companies investigated the different collaboration options.
Edwin Kennedy, chief commercial officer at TDCG commented, “Providing IaaS hosting is really a different type of specialisation as opposed to managing a data centre infrastructure and hosting data and applications in a private cloud, which is a growing market for us. The latter really requires much more consultancy and customer guidance.”
Herke Plantenga, CEO and co-founder of NovoServe, is pleased to be taking a step back from operating the data centres, adding, “Although we have a lot of experience in the field, it’s not our core business.
“With TDCG on board as specialist in the area of data centre services, we can focus on our core activity: providing IaaS hosting services to a global customer base. In addition, this collaboration guarantees the scalability of our data centre infrastructure.”
Data centre ‘around the corner’
TDCG wants to grow to a network with national coverage consisting of ten data centres, one in each region of the Netherlands.
Their locations in Amsterdam, Delft, Utrecht and Rotterdam already provide great coverage in the greater Amsterdam area.
After this expansion to the eastern part of the Netherlands, TDCG is taking concrete steps to expand to the north and south of the country as well.
Kennedy continued, “For private cloud services it goes that customers want to do business with the business around the corner from them. Although they can monitor and manage their entire environment remotely, we want customers to be able to reach the data centre quickly in case of maintenance activities.
“This doesn’t just save them time, but it’s also important from a trust perspective that their data is literally ‘around the corner’. After all, they are very deliberately housing their business-critical and confidential data in a private cloud.”
It is a different story for the IaaS hosting market. “Customers use our custom-built server configurations and quality network for things such as virtualisation, cloud, and providing dedicated server hosting,” said Plantenga. “The majority of the sales market for our IaaS solutions is international due to the significant appeal of the Netherlands as internet hub.”
International orientation
Many of the customers TDCG and NovoServe will be serving together are located in Germany and Eastern Europe. This fits perfectly with the international growth ambitions of TDCG.
“The Enschede region has traditionally been seen as a gateway from the Netherlands to the rest of Europe. This has caused the region to be very internationally oriented,” said Kennedy.
“In addition, the Twente University attracts many high-end technology businesses. The area also boasts a lively start-up landscape. This rouses the demand for data centre services in the east of the Netherlands, particularly the demand for private cloud.”
Growing demand for hybrid cloud
The steps taken by both companies match the strongly increasing demand for hybrid cloud.
Kennedy added, “Gartner research from last year shows that businesses on average have only housed 10 to 20 percent of their IT in the cloud. This will grow to 80 to 90 percent within a few years. We are currently at the tipping point.
“The demand for both public as well as private cloud is growing quickly. Together, TDCG and NovoServe are able to fulfil all needs – on premise as well as in the public and private cloud – and provide customers with advice about their best route to the cloud.”
