A view from inside one of GoGrid's California data centers
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Cloud hosting firm GoGrid announced late Tuesday evening that it had launched its European headquarters, GoGrid AMS BV, this week in Amsterdam, along with a new data center in the same location.
One of the pioneering companies in the infrastructure as a service cloud hosting market, and the self-described “leading pure-play IaaS cloud provider” the California-based GoGrid offers a combination of public, hybrid and private cloud IaaS. Following the expansion, customers in the US and Europe will be able to deploy cloud resources in the Amsterdam location, as well as at the company’s existing locations in San Francisco, California and Ashburn, Virginia.
The expansion of its services – and its footprint – into Europe follows the expansion path of other large cloud players, such as Amazon and Rackspace. Demand in Europe for cloud services is generally considered to be a bit behind the US. But, like the US, the market in Europe is growing, and makes for a logical next step for an expansion outside the US. In another bit of “US-based cloud hosting firm expands into Europe via Amsterdam” news on Wednesday, Firehost announced a similar expansion.
But rather than a speculative effort to drive new business, GoGrid says the move into Europe was a response to a demonstrated demand for its services from outside the US.
“International markets are currently driving more than 40 percent of GoGrid’s business,” says Jeffrey Samuels, GoGrid’s chief marketing officer, quoted in the press release. “Because EMEA represents a significant growth opportunity, our priority has been finding the right location and building the team to successfully launch our European operations. We’ve extended GoGrid’s world-class cloud computing technologies to address the specific customer and infrastructure needs of the broader region.”
The new GoGrid facility will be located within an Equinix International Business Exchange data center in Amsterdam, enabling GoGrid to connect with other businesses via the Platform Equinix ecosystem. GoGrid will also use the Equinix Marketplace to promote and distribute its cloud infrastructure services through Equinix data centers, to the platform’s 4,000-plus participants.
Equinix launched the Equinix Marketplace back in October of 2011 as a way of enabling its customers to access the opportunities presented by the customers in nearby racks.
“Ringing in 2012 with the launch of our EMEA Headquarters is a terrific way to start the new year,” said Warren Heffelfinger, CEO of GoGrid, also quoted in the announcement. “We’re particularly excited about our customer momentum, which shows that we’re well-positioned to gain traction as the cloud computing market accelerates. 2011 was a banner year for GoGrid, with strong execution across the board. Our focus this year will continue to be on customer success, technology innovation, ecosystem development, and global expansion.”
GoGrid has created a European launch page, offering customers more information on its presence in the new region.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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