Silver Lake's Choksi Becomes CEO at Vantage

The exterior of the' V2 data center on the Vantage Data Centers campus in Santa Clara, Calif. (Photo: Vantage)

Vantage Data Centers has appointed Sureel Choksi as President and Chief Executive Officer, the company said Thursday. Choksi succeeds Jim Trout, who has transitioned into a new role as Founder and Chief Technology Officer, where he is responsible for data center design and construction and corporate strategy. Trout will continue to serve as a member of Vantage's board of directors.

Choksi is a senior member of the Value Creation Team at Silver Lake Partners, the private equity firm that backs Vantage, and has been serving on Vantage's board. He has over 15 years of experience as an executive in the Internet infrastructure industry. Prior to joining Silver Lake, Choksi was Chief Executive Officer of Elevation Data Centers, a private equity backed roll-up vehicle. Choksi also held a number of executive roles with Level 3 Communications.

"We are very pleased to welcome Sureel Choksi as CEO," said Trout. "I'm looking forward to partnering with Sureel to lead Vantage's next phase of growth. I am proud of what we have accomplished in building Vantage into a leading wholesale data center provider with campuses in Santa Clara, California and Quincy, Washington. Sureel's extensive experience in the Internet infrastructure industry will help us better serve our customers and build upon our operational excellence."

"I have worked closely with Vantage's management team over the past few months and am impressed with the company's rapid growth and innovation in highly scalable, resilient and energy efficient data centers," said Choksi. "Most remarkable is the fact that Vantage has leased over 25MW of capacity to high quality customers in less than three years. I look forward to working with Jim Trout and the entire Vantage team to continue delivering world-class data center solutions to our customers."

Vantage entered the highly-competitive Silicon Valley market in early 2011, quickly leasing nearly 20 megawatts of power capacity. After competing aggressively for market share as it leased its first two buildings, Vantage has fine-tuned its approach to leasing its last and largest building in Santa Clara. The company also expanded its credit line last year. Meanwhile, it has opened its first data center in Quincy, a key outsourcing hub in the Pacific Northwest.

Silver Lake Partners is a private equity firm that manages more than $23 billion in investments. The company has experience in the data center sector, having led a consortium of firms in acquiring SunGard Data Systems. The company's portfolio includes technology industry leaders such as Avaya, Gartner, Interactive Data Corporation, the NASDAQ OMX Group, NetScout, Seagate Technology, Serena Software and Skype.