Managed Data Buys Stargate Chicago Center

Managed Data Holdings (MDH) continues to buy up data center and managed hosting properties. Today the company said it has acquired Stargate, which operates a large data center in Oak Brook, Illinois. The deal is the third acquisition for MDH, which previously bought Intelenet of Irvine, Calif. and Denver area colo provider Data393. Terms were not disclosed.

The Stargate acquisition continues the strong deal activity in the data center and managed hosting sector. Earlier this week the private equity firm ABRY Partners bought Q9 Networks, marking its third deal in the industry in the past year.

Managed Data Holdings said it expects to continue investing in infrastructure upgrades for the 86,000 square foot facility near Chicago, which was originally developed by Exodus and will continue to operate under the Stargate brand. MDH has funded expansions of the data center infrastructure for Intelenet and Data393 as well. 

"As the demand for high density data center space grows, we are committed to meeting those demands by increasing cooling and power capacity within the facility," said Evans Mullan, COO of Managed Data Holdings. "These capacity increases, along with the full suite of managed services, including virtualization already available in our other data centers, will benefit current and future customers by providing both increased efficiency today and a clear growth path for future requirements. We will continue to deliver top shelf customer service to our existing customers at the center, and we'll use our hands-on service approach to convince Chicago area business customers that our data center is the place to be."
Stargate was founded in 1989 by CEO Gary Chaffin as a telecommunications company, and soon gained accreditation as an ICANN domain registrar and added shared and dedicated hosting services. Last year the company sold its domain business and shifted its focus to the colocation business with the opening of the Oak Brook data center. The acquisition by MDH highlights the continued strength of the Chicago market.  

"Stargate, located in the heart of the Midwest, provides a strategic geographic location with leading edge data center technology, and bolsters Managed Data Holdings' disaster recovery offerings to mid-size and enterprise business customers," said Peter Stevenson, Chief Executive Officer of Managed Data Holdings, who said the deal would "facilitate continued organic growth and geographic expansion."

"We are very pleased to be joining forces with Managed Data Holdings," said John Rante, Stargate's Chairman. "This new company brings the necessary resources to meet our customers' growing needs and accelerate the company's growth trajectory. Besides providing customers with premium data center solutions, we will now be able to offer Managed Data Holdings' existing disaster recovery, managed hosting and managed service offerings to the Chicago market. It's a very exciting opportunity."

Managed Data Holdings was founded in June 2007 by Catalyst Investors and Great Hill Partners, and invests in data centers in Tier I and Tier II markets in the U.S. to meet enterprise demand for managed hosting, colocation space and disaster recovery services.