Zayo Acquires Dallas Provider CoreXchange

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zColo's acquisition of CoreXchange gives the company two data suites at the Informat carrier hotel in Dallas. (Photo: Rich Miller)

zColo, the colocation division of international bandwidth provider Zayo Group, has acquired CoreXchange, a data center and managed services provider in Dallas, Texas.

The purchase provides zColo with one new stand-alone data center, located at 8600 Harry Hines Boulevard, as well as an additional 12,000 square feet in CoreXchange’s suite in the Dallas Infomart at 1950 N. Stemmons Freeway. The transaction was funded with cash on hand.

This increases the zColo footprint by 18,000 square feet in Dallas, to more than 34,000 square feet. Zayo currently operates colocation facilities at 2323 Bryan St. and the Dallas Infomart, where zColo will gain an additional suite with this purchase.

While CoreXchange’s space is located completely in Dallas, Texas, the company recently said that only 20 percent of its customers are actually within the region, thanks in part to it’s online ordering portal, ColoUnlimited.  As a part of the acquisition, Zayo will also assume ownership of ColoUnlimited. zColo will continue operating ColoUnlimited in the Dallas market before integrating into Zayo’s recently announced Internet Portal, Tranzact, in the second quarter of 2014. Tranzact will enable transactional ordering capabilities across zColo’s national data center footprint.

Adding the CoreXchange facilities increases Zayo’s footprint and options for its customers in the Dallas metro area. Zayo has a strong fiber network in the Dallas area, spanning more than 500 route miles and reaching more than 250 on-net buildings.

“Dallas is one of the world’s leading corporate headquarter hubs and has seen tremendous growth in the high tech and energy fields,” said Chris Morley, president at Zayo Group. “Expanding the zColo footprint not only provides more alternatives for colocation in the Dallas market, but provides easier access for customers to tap into Zayo’s international Bandwidth Infrastructure footprint.”

CoreXchange was founded seven years ago by industry veterans from The Planet, Rackspace, NTT/Verio and Exodus Communications. One of those veterans was Peter Pathos from The Planet, which was acquired by GI Partners and merged with SoftLayer. The Planet, which was known for dedicated hosting by the time of its acquisition, was actually started as a colocation company. CoreXchange rose out of those foundations as The Planet moved away from colocation.

Zayo has continuously built its zColo colocation business through acquisitions. The company acquired CoreNAP in Austin, Texas in 2013. The company also recently expanded in Miami Florida.