Tampa startup acquires data center in $90M deal

TAMPA -- vXchnge has acquired eight data centers from Sungard Availability Services that will expand the Tampa-based data center provider's footprint to 15 North American markets.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, CIT Group Inc. announced last week it loaned vXchnge $90 million for the purchase.

Sungard is based in Wayne, Pa., with additional offices in Canada, Europe and India.

The new markets will operate as “deployment points” for network-enabled applications and cloud services for clients, says vXchnge CEO Keith Olsen, in a release. Those markets are located in Austin, Texas; Durham, N.C.; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; and St. Paul, Minn.

Olsen was the CEO of Switch and Data Facilities Co. Inc. in Tampa, before it was acquired in 2010 by California-based Equinix for $683.4 million. George Pollock Jr., the CFO of vXchnge, held a similar position at Switch and Data before the acquisition as well.

The company, which Olsen founded in 2013, has received funding in the past from The Stephens Group, a private equity firm in Little Rock, Ark.