Quality Technology Services Explained

QTS Realty Trust, Inc.
Trade Name:Quality Technology Services
Industry:Real estate investment trust
Founder:Chad L. Williams
Location City:Overland Park, Kansas
Location Country:United States
Products:Data Centers
Revenue: $480 million (2019)
Net Income: $31 million (2019)
Assets: $3.223 billion (2019)
Equity: $1.444 billion (2019)
Num Employees:612 (2019)
Footnotes:[1]

QTS Realty Trust, Inc. (popularly known as Quality Technology Services, QTS or QTS Data Centers) is a provider of carrier-neutral data centers and provides colocation services within North America and Northern Amsterdam and is based in Overland Park, Kansas.[2] The company's largest operating areas are: Northern Virginia, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Hillsboro, Oregon, and New Jersey.

The company has been named the most sustainable company in the data center industry[3] for two years in a row (2019, 2020) by World Finance Magazine. The company is also a member of the RE100,[4] a global corporate leadership initiative bringing together influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.

On August 31, 2021, QTS announced that companies affiliated with the Blackstone Group had completed the acquisition of the company for approximately $10 billion.[5]

History

Timeline

In 2003, Chad Williams founded the company with the purchase of a data center in Kansas.[6]

In October 2005, the company acquired Deltacom's e^deltacom business unit and its data center in Suwanee, Georgia for $26 million.[7]

In October 2006, the company acquired a 960,000 square foot data center in Atlanta as well as Globix Hosting LLC for a total of $161 million.[8] [9] The company also acquired NTT USA LLC, which owned a 130,000 square foot facility in the New York City area.[10]

In December 2007, the company acquired the customers of First National Technology Solutions.[11] The company also acquired 120,000 square feet of data center and office technology space in Silicon Valley.[12]

In April 2008, the company expanded into Florida.[13]

In 2010, the company acquired the former Qimonda semiconductor site in Richmond, Virginia and converted the property into a 1.3 million square foot mega data center. The MAREA and BRUSA subsea cable systems operated by Telxius terminate in this facility, forming the QTS Richmond Network Access Point.[14] The QTS Richmond Network Access Point or the NAP was co-founded by Clint Heiden, former Chief Revenue Officer of QTS and Vinay Nagpal, President of InterGlobix, LLC.

In 2011, the company acquired a data center in Lenexa, Kansas.[15]

In January 2013, the company acquired Herakles LLC and its 92,000 square-foot data center in San Francisco.[16]

In February 2013, the company acquired 40 acres in Irving, Texas for construction of a data center facility.[17]

In October 2013, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.[18]

In April 2014, the company acquired the former Chicago Sun-Times plant with plans to convert it into a data center.[19]

In June 2015, the company acquired Carpathia Hosting for $326 million.[20]

In June 2016, the company acquired a data center campus in New Jersey from DuPont Fabros Technology for $125 million.[21] [22]

In January 2017, the company acquired a 260,000 square foot data center in Irving, Texas for $50 million.[23]

In May 2017, the company acquired a 3.4-acre parcel next to its Atlanta facility for $1 million.[24]

In April 2019, the company acquired 2 data centers in the Netherlands (Groningen and Eemshaven) for $44 million.[25]

In November 2019, the company announced the expansion of its Atlanta data center campus, totaling more than 250,000 square feet of leasable capacity.[26] Development finished in 2020.

In 2020, the company expanded its commitment to environmental sustainability by partnering with American Forests[27] and World Vision.[28] The company also started development on its greenfield data center campus in Hillsboro, Oregon with completion in 2021. The data center facility is run entirely with renewable energy.

In 2021, the company announced a total of eight data center facilities utilizing renewable energy to power operations.[29]

Acquisitions and expansions

In 2021, Blackstone Group Inc.'s infrastructure unit, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners and its nontraded real-estate investment trust, known as BREIT, have agreed to pay $78 a share for QTS.[30] The acquisition was completed on August 31, 2021.

Data center locations

QTS Realty Trust owns or operates 28 data center locations across the United States and Netherlands in the following areas:

United States

  1. Arizona
  2. California
  3. Florida
  4. Georgia
  5. Illinois
  6. Kansas
  7. New Jersey
  8. Oregon
  9. Texas
  10. Virginia

Netherlands

  1. Eemshaven
  2. Groningen

United Kingdom

  1. Cambois, Northumberland (Proposed)[31] [32] [33] [34]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: QTS Realty Trust, Inc. 2019 Form 10-K Annual Report . U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. Web site: Data Center Company | QTS | Leading Provider of Data Center Solutions.
  3. Web site: Sustainability Awards 2020. 2021-08-10. www.worldfinance.com. en-US.
  4. Web site: RE100 Members. 2021-08-10. RE100. en.
  5. News: Blackstone Funds Complete Acquisition of QTS Realty Trust. PR Newswire. 2022-12-30. en-US.
  6. News: CEO takes salvage job at old PVI site and finds whole new line of business . Charlie . Anderson . . February 27, 2005.
  7. News: $26M deal kick-starts Overland Park tech firm . Charlie . Anderson . . October 2, 2005.
  8. News: QualityTech bets $135M on data centers . Charlie . Anderson . . October 15, 2006.
  9. Quality Technology Services Completes Acquisition of Globix Hosting LLC . . November 9, 2006.
  10. Quality Technology Services Purchases NTT Data USA LLC . . October 25, 2006.
  11. Quality Technology Services Acquires New Customers . . December 12, 2007.
  12. Quality Technology Services Expands in California Market . . December 14, 2007.
  13. Quality Technology Services Expands into Florida Market . . April 8, 2008.
  14. Web site: QTS Plans Huge Virginia Data Center. 5 April 2010.
  15. News: Quality Technology Services invests $20M in Lenexa site . Krista . Klaus . . June 17, 2011.
  16. News: Quality Technology Services expands in Northern California . Alyson . Raletz . . January 3, 2013.
  17. News: Quality Technology Services buys 40 acres in Irving for data center . Candace . Carlisle . . February 13, 2013.
  18. QTS Realty Trust, Inc. Prices Initial Public Offering . . October 9, 2013.
  19. News: Data center planned at former Sun-Times plant . Ryan . Ori . . April 30, 2014 . subscription.
  20. QTS Realty Trust Announces Closing of Carpathia Hosting Acquisition . . June 16, 2015.
  21. QTS Acquires DuPont Fabros' 38-Acre New Jersey Data Center Campus . . June 6, 2016.
  22. News: Overland Park-based QTS Realty Trust buys New Jersey data center . Mark . Davis . . June 6, 2016.
  23. News: QTS completes purchase of data center in Fort Worth . Fort Worth Business Press . January 31, 2017.
  24. News: QTS buys Westside property next to massive campus, eyes more expansion . Douglas . Sams . . May 30, 2017.
  25. QTS Expands International Platform with the Strategic Acquisition of Two Data Centers in the Netherlands . . April 30, 2019.
  26. QTS Announces Expansion of Atlanta-Metro Mega Data Center Campus . . November 4, 2019.
  27. Web site: Corporate Partners. 2021-08-10. American Forests. en-US.
  28. Inc. QTS Realty Trust. QTS Partners with World Vision to Make Clean Water Accessible to Thousands of Families Globally. 2021-08-10. www.prnewswire.com. en.
  29. News: Four more QTS data centers now sourcing renewable energy. en. 2021-08-10.
  30. News: Gottfried. Miriam. 2021-06-07. WSJ News Exclusive Blackstone to Buy Data-Center Operator QTS Realty Trust for $6.7 Billion. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2021-08-10. 0099-9660.
  31. Web site: Receivers hail 'new chapter' for Britishvolt site amid £10bn data centre plan . 15 April 2024 .
  32. Web site: Northumberland battery factory ditched in favour of data centre . 15 April 2024 .
  33. https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/business/britishvolt-factory-plans-scrapped-for-blyth-power-station-site-with-ps10bn-data-centre-project-now-lined-up-4591568
  34. Web site: Hundreds of jobs promised as data centre development proposed for Britishvolt site . 15 April 2024 .