LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) today announced that DataBank, a leading provider of enterprise-class colocation, connectivity, and managed services, and a balance sheet investment of Colony Capital, has made a $30 million strategic investment in EdgePresence, an owner and operator of multi-tenant, modular data centers, providing space, power, bandwidth, and interconnection across key U.S. markets.
EdgePresence's Edge Data Centers (EDCs) are modular, purpose-built data centers, comprehensively and compactly designed to include critical power, monitoring, physical security, and cooling. Located at targeted locations at the base of cell towers, key real estate, and enterprise campus locations, these EDCs will enable DataBank to colocate its customer workloads at the "far edge" to further reduce latency and improve performance for select applications. This modular capability complements and expands DataBank's edge strategy and comes just weeks after it announced a tripling of its footprint with the acquisition of Zayo Group's zColo data centers.
"With the continued expansion of 5G and internet infrastructure, we are seeing the need for geographic specific colocation solutions," said Raul K. Martynek, Chief Executive Officer of DataBank. "EdgePresence's modular installations will allow DataBank to deploy these targeted solutions for specific applications and use cases where traditional data center options are not optimal. DataBank's expanded footprint with the combination of zColo facilities and EdgePresence modular solutions will allow us to offer customers nearly unlimited geographic flexibility for their IT infrastructure."
The announcement is yet another example of the convergence of digital infrastructure and the ecosystem benefits of partnering with DataBank's lead investor, Digital Colony, the digital infrastructure arm of Colony Capital. EdgePresence has partnered with Digital Colony portfolio company Vertical Bridge, the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations in the United States, to deploy its solutions at more than a dozen Vertical Bridge locations. The combination of Vertical Bridge, DataBank and EdgePresence assets will accelerate the deployment of novel infrastructure solutions for cloud, content, and technology customers.
"Since 2018, EdgePresence has established an important strategic position at the 'far edge,'" said Doug Recker, Founder and President of EdgePresence. "By joining forces with DataBank, we'll act as a force multiplier for their edge data center strategy, helping to bring data centers closer to the data pools being created by users, enabling next-generation, data-localization strategies and applications for 5G and the IoT."
EdgePresence will continue to be led by Mr. Recker and the existing management team, and will collaborate closely with DataBank's leadership team to expand its modular data center solutions.
"I couldn't be more pleased to welcome Doug and his team to the DataBank family," said Kevin Ooley, President and Chief Financial Officer of DataBank. "We look forward to leveraging their innovative capabilities to further advance our Data Center Evolved™ strategy."
About Colony Capital
Colony Capital, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) is a leading global investment firm with a heritage of identifying and capitalizing on key secular trends in real estate. The Company manages a $46 billion portfolio of real assets on behalf of its shareholders and limited partners, including over $20 billion in digital real estate investments through Digital Colony, its digital infrastructure platform. Colony Capital, structured as a REIT, is headquartered in Los Angeles with key offices in Boca Raton, New York, and London, and has over 350 employees across 20 locations in 12 countries. For more information on the Company visit www.clny.com.
About DataBank
DataBank is a leading provider of enterprise-class data center, cloud, and interconnection services, offering customers 100% uptime availability of data, applications and infrastructure. DataBank's managed data center services are anchored in world-class facilities. Our customized technology solutions are designed to help customers effectively manage risk, improve their technology performance and allow them to focus on their core business objectives. DataBank is headquartered in the historic former Federal Reserve Bank Building, in downtown Dallas, TX. For additional information on DataBank locations and services, please visit www.databank.com or call 1(800) 840-7533.
About EdgePresence
EdgePresence, an owner and operator of multi-tenant, edge computing points-of-presence (PoPs), providing space, power, bandwidth, and interconnection, is currently deploying its edge data centers (EDCs) across markets throughout the U.S. Edge Data Centers are purpose-built edge micro data centers, comprehensively and compactly designed to include critical power, distribution, physical security and cooling. EDCs are anchored at the base of cell towers, key real estate, and enterprise campus locations enabling us to deploy within 12 miles from end users. This can be called the "far edge." EdgePresence is serving as a turnkey solution for businesses looking to implement a flexible and dynamic edge compute strategy, nationally. Along with its Cell Tower partners, EdgePresence will build, deploy and operate hundreds of micro edge data centers across the United States.
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This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, and may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that might cause such a difference include, without limitation, the closing of the Offering and expected use of proceeds, Colony Capital’s ability to successfully transition to a digital focused strategy and achieve the anticipated benefits of such transition, Colony Capital’s ability to continue to capitalize on the powerful secular tailwinds driving investment in digital infrastructure globally, the Company’s management team and the ability to continue to build a successful track record, the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and global economy, including the duration and extent of the impact of COVID-19 on the operating performance of Colony Capital’s real estate businesses and investments, Colony Capital’s ability to de-lever, Colony Capital’s liquidity and financial flexibility, Colony Capital’s ability to complete its rotation to digital within the timeframe anticipated or at all, and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in Colony Capital’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 and its other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Colony Capital and the Operating Company caution investors not to unduly rely on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. Colony Capital is under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this press release, nor to conform prior statements to actual results or revised expectations, and Colony Capital does not intend to do so. For more information, visit www.clny.com.
