Equinix is leading the global colocation market, generating the most revenue and achieving a 9.5% market share, according to first-quarter data from Synergy Research Group.
Trailing behind are Digital Realty, NTT, Verizon, CenturyLink, KDDI, Global Switch and China Telecom.
The Top 12 ranking features six colocation specialists and six telcos, though four of those telcos have achieved their standing in large part via the acquisition of companies that had substantial colocation product lines.
Equinix is in the process of acquiring 10th-ranked TelecityGroup; Digital Realty is reportedly seeking to acquire Top 20 player Telx; and NTT has just closed the latest in a series of datacenter and cloud-oriented investments, having acquired a majority stake in EMEA wholesale colocation specialist e-shelter.
In aggregate, the Top 12 colocation providers account for almost 40% of the total worldwide market.
Nine of the Top 12 generate the bulk of their revenues from retail colocation, while three are focused primarily on wholesale. This split reflects the segmentation of the colocation market, where retail revenues outstrip wholesale revenues by a factor of over three to one.
“There is no doubt that we will see further consolidation in the colocation market over the next five years,” said John Dinsdale, a chief analyst and research director at Synergy Research Group.
“An ever-larger portion of the market is driven by service provider clients rather than enterprises, and this is helping fuel a need for both scale and breadth of geographic footprint,” said Dinsdale.
“While they carry some risks, acquisitions are much faster than organic build in achieving the desired scale.”