电信运营商抛售数据中心
电信运营商曾认为他们会在托管数据中心业务方面独居优势，现在他们多数已淡出这一领域。
Telecoms providers thought they’d be great at colocation data center services. Now they’re mostly getting out of the game
January 02, 2020 By Peter Judge
意大利电信正计划剥离其全部数据中心中的23个，并将其在股票市场上打包。此消息只是一系列市场动作的最新动态之一，由此可以看出电信运营商正放弃早先想通过数据中心托管业务大赚一笔的计划。
The news that Telecom Italia is looking to spin-off 23 of its data centers and list them on the stock market is only the latest in a series of moves, which are seeing telecoms service providers backing away from earlier plans to make a lot of money out of data center colocation.
在过去十年中的前几年，通过数据中心托管业务挣钱看起来易如反掌。那时数据中心行业正处于蓬勃发展期，而且也基于基础设施硬件的行业。对电信服务运营商来说，这似乎是一个合乎逻辑的延伸方向，于是他们中的多数快速进入该市场。十年过去了，其中大多数正选择退出。
It seemed so simple in the early years of last decade. Data centers were booming, and they are a service industry based on infrastructure hardware. To telecoms operators, it looked like a logical expansion, and many of them dived into the market. Ten years on, most of them are exiting.
返璞归真
意大利电信运营商Aruba的市场经理Massimo Bandinelli说: “尽管有许多电信运营商正计划进军数据中心和云计算基础设施领域，但现在越来越多的电信运营商也意识到他们宁可专注于自己的核心业务，而让其他人来管理他们的数据中心”。
“Despite many telcos making moves into the data center and cloud infrastructure markets, more and more are now realizing that they would rather concentrate on their core business and let someone else manage their data centers,” says Massimo Bandinelli, marketing manager at Telecom Italia’s compatriot Aruba.
许多电信运营商过去曾简单粗暴地以高价收购当时的数据中心服务商。例如，Verizon在2011年以14亿美元的价格收购了数据中心服务商Terremark。8年后，该公司明确表示托管服务并不符合其业务模式，以 35亿美元的价格将其数据中心转售给Equinix。
Many telcos simply bought existing data center providers, often at high prices. For instance, Verizon acquired data center provider Terremark in 2011 for $1.4 billion. Eight years later, the company decided that offering colocation services did not fit with its business model, and sold off its data centers to Equinix for $3.5 billion.
同样在美国， AT&T苦心经营多年建成的数据中心网络，在2017年以11亿美元的价格卖给了Brookfield Infrastructure资产管理公司及其合作伙伴。Brookfield之后以数据中心提供商Evoque品牌重新打包上市。
Also in the US, AT&T painstakingly accumulated a network of data centers, only to sell them off to Brookfield Infrastructure and other institutional partners for $1.1 billion in 2017. Brookfield relaunched them as a new data center provider, Evoque.
同样在2017年， CenturyLink以23亿美元的价格向一个财团出售了旗下的57个数据中心，组成另一个独立的数据中心服务商Cyxtera。
Also in 2017, CenturyLink sold 57 data centers for $2.3bn to a consortium that became another standalone data center provider, Cyxtera.
这并不突兀。早在2015年DCD就注意到了这一现象，当时一些小型电信运营商拆分了数据中心资产。例如，那一年，阿肯色州电信运营商Windstream以5.75亿美元的价格将其持有的14个数据中心出售给了TierPoint，使TierPiont收获了17.9万平方英尺（1.7万平方米）的托管空间。
It wasn’t a sudden change. DCD noticed the phenomenon in 2015, when some smaller telcos unloaded their data centers. For instance, in that year Arkansas telco Windstream sold its holding of 14 data centers to TierPoint for $575m, giving that provider 179,000 sq ft (17,000 sq m) of space.
关于电信巨头AT＆T，Verizon和CenturyLink即将出售数据中心的传言开始于2015年，几年后才靴子落地。
Rumors started about the imminent sales at the telco giants AT&T, Verizon and CenturyLink back in 2015, but took a couple of years to come to fruition.
此举影响了那些正在自建数据中心的电信运营商，以及那些收购数据中心的企业。例如，Telecom Italia就至少有一部分设施由其电信行业的合作伙伴爱立信Ericsson（一家以网络设备为主的厂商）建造。
The move took in telcos which had built out their own data centers, as well as those which acquired them. Telecom Italia, for instance, had at least some of its facilities built by a partner from the telecoms industry -, which is primarily a network provider.
同样在欧洲， Telefónica SA出售了其11个托管数据中心，Asterion Industrial Partners以5.5亿欧元（合6亿美元）的价格将之收至麾下。在英国，英国电信BT一直在不断出售其数据中心资产，例如在2015年，就把Gatwick附近一座Tier III的基础设施转让给另一家运营商4D。
Also in Europe, Telefónica SA sold off its 11 colocation data centers. They went to Asterion Industrial Partners for €550m ($600m). In the UK, BT seems to have been selling its data centers off one-at-a-time in deals like a 2015 sale which saw a Tier III facility near Gatwick go to operator 4D.
这一趋势也延伸到新生市场，当地的电信运营商在数据中心的投资可能才起步。在拉丁美洲，墨西哥电信公司Axtel以约1.75亿美元的价格向Equinix出售了三个数据中心。
The trend extends to younger markets as well, where the telcos’ data center investment may have been much more recent. In Latin America, Mexican telco Axtel sold three data centers to Equinix for about $175m.
印度电信运营商塔塔Tata则一波三折。在2013年和2014年，它经历了一段数据中心快速扩张时期，在印度和亚洲其它地区建立或收购了44个数据中心。然后，将它们作为独立子公司Tata Communications数据中心（TCDC）上市。然而在2016年，Tata最后下定决心，认为TCDC更多的是负债而不是资产，并以约6.5亿美元的价格将之出售给新加坡的ST Telemedia。
Indian telco Tata flipped dramatically. In 2013 and 2014, it saw a period of rapid data center expansion, building or acquiring 44 data centers in India and elsewhere in Asia. It then floated them as an independent subsidiary, Tata Communications Data Centres (TCDC). However, in 2016, Tata decided they were more of a liability than an asset, and sold TCDC to Singapore’s ST Telemedia for around $650 million.
抽丝剥茧
事后看来，很容易想到这些电信公司误入了数据中心行业，进入了一个他们不完全了解的区域，在这个领域他们将面临更加惨烈的竞争，这可能使他们陷入困境。
It’s easy in hindsight to think that these telcos stumbled into data centers by mistake, getting into an area they did not fully understand, where they would face more focused competition that could run rings round them.
这种分析是中肯的，但分析人士指出，在过去十年的最后几年，电信公司面临了相当多的财务压力。
That analysis is pretty much true, but in the latter years of last decade, telcos faced quite a few financial pressures, analysts have pointed out,
早在2015年，Motley Fool公司的Adam Levy暗示美国电信企业资金短缺，因为他们为无线频段上有所拖累，但尚未从移动数据业务中获得丰厚的收入。Levy写道：“这两家公司(AT&T and Verizon) 都在联邦通信委员会FCC的AWS-3频段拍卖中投入了大量资金，以为其无线业务获取宝贵的无线业务许可证。”
Back in 2015, The Motley Fool’s Adam Levy suggested US telcos needed money because they had paid heavily for wireless spectrum, but were not yet gaining huge revenues from mobile data. “Both [AT&T and Verizon] spent heavily in the FCC’s AWS-3 spectrum auction, acquiring valuable airwave licenses for their wireless businesses,” wrote Levy.
债务负担沉重，近年来，许多电信公司一直在寻找筹集资金的方法。数据中心领域一直是潜在的现金来源，因为在快速增长的周期内，基础设施的估值非常高。
Heavily burdened with debt, many telcos have been looking for ways to raise money in recent years. And the data center field has been a good potential source of cash as, during a period of rapid growth, facilities are valued very highly.
在出售CenturyLink的数据中心资产时，该公司首席执行官Glenn Post对Barclays资本的Amir Rozwadowski表示，主要的动机仅仅是买家愿意为这些资产支付大笔费用。
While selling CenturyLink’s data centers, company chief executive Glenn Post told Barclays Capital’s Amir Rozwadowski that a lot of the motivation was simply that buyers were prepared to pay big money for those assets.
可以理解的是，经历了先前的市场崩盘中烧钱过多的电信运营商日益觉悟，具有强烈的意愿在未来可能的崩盘发生之前，持有现金。
And telecoms operators, who have been burnt in previous market crashes, have been understandably keen to get ahold of that cash, ahead of any potential future crash.
“首先，关于为什么说现在是合适的时机……目前，估值显然不错。尽管估值总在变化，但是我们知道市场是好的。”早在2015年Post就这样说，“我们认为我们的现金流可以用于投资，带来更高回报，实现更高股东价值。因此，我们正在考虑剥离数据中心资产。”
“First of all, as to why now is an opportune time… valuations are obviously good right now. They can always change, but we know the market’s good.” Post said, back in 2015. “We think our cashflow could be used for investments that can drive higher returns, and better shareholder value. So that’s why we’re looking at divesting data center assets.”
但是还有其他原因导致数据中心不像以前那样很适合电信运营商。过去几年中，数据中心行业也发生了变化，这些变化使数据中心与电信运营商的舒适区渐行渐远。
But there are other reasons why data centers are not such a good fit for telcos as they might have been once. There have also been changes in the data center industry over the last several years, which have moved data centers ever further from the comfort zone of telecoms providers.
Bandinelli警告说：“数据中心所需的劳动力与电信运营商所需要的人力资源大不相同。”他补充道，随着数据中心的发展和日趋成熟，这种专业化程度已悄然提高。
“The workforce required is very different from the one needed as a telco operator,” warns Bandinelli, adding that this specialization has increased, as data centers have become more evolved and more commoditized.
同时需要大量投资来顺应时代潮流，适应整个行业的法规、采用标准、获得认证以及转向可再生能源。
There are also large investments required to keep up to date, adjusting to industry-wide regulations, adopting standards, getting certifications, and moving to renewable energy.
与此相伴的是，出现了像边缘资源一样新的业务模式，而在规模的另一侧，超大规模数据中心供应商正在建立庞大的基础设施群，这方面电信运营商并无优势
Alongside this, new business models are emerging like Edge resources, while at the other end of the scale, hyperscale providers are building a market for huge facilities which are not cost-effective for a services company to deliver.
抛售开始时，数据中心分析公司Romonet（现在是CBRE的子公司）的Zahl Limbuwala认为，电信运营商可能已经认为其数据中心的价值可能会因为投资需求而下降。在2015年，他告诉DCD :“如果你的数据中心已经有10年历史了，还没有进行大规模的再投资，会让人感到不可思议。”
When the sell-off began, Zahl Limbuwala of data center analytics company Romonet, now a subsidiary of CBRE, felt that the telcos may have taken a view that their data centers were likely to go down in value because of the investment requirements: “If your data centers are approaching 10 years old and have not had a major reinvestment, you are in for a nasty surprise,” he told DCD in 2015.
有些组织已经对数据中心进行了投资，将其视为具有巨大回报的商业地产。Limbuwala指出，它们的成本也很高，在需要新的投资之前有一个为期10年的“再投资周期”，时间大约是主流商业地产项目的一半。
Some organizations have invested in data centers seeing them as a kind of commercial real estate with very large returns. Limbuwala pointed out that they also had high costs, with a “reinvestment time” before new investment is needed, of 10 years, about half that of mainstream commercial property.
鹤立鸡群
尽管情况令人沮丧，但仍有一些电信运营商脱颖而出。日本的NTT拥有一个欣欣向荣的数据中心子公司，该子公司已经收购了美国的RagingWire、亚洲的NetMagic、欧洲的e-shelter和Gyron，并正着手将它们组成一个统一的业务单元。
Despite this gloomy picture, there are some telcos which are apparently exceptions to this trend. Japan’s NTT has a thriving data center subsidiary, which has absorbed RagingWire in the US, NetMagic in Asia, e-shelter and Gyron in Europe, and is in the process of forming them into a single coherent unit.
无论如何，NTT都是个例外，它的数据中心业务运作的顺风顺水。RagingWire首席执行官Doug Adams将其做法与Verizon和AT＆T等美国电信公司进行了对比：“ [AT＆T]过于短视，非常注重季度业绩，”他在2019年初的DCD采访中说。
However, NTT is an exception, and operates its data centers at arm’s length. RagingWire CEO Doug Adams contrasts its approach with that of US telcos like Verizon and AT&T: “[The US telcos] were very short-sighted, very quarterly focused,” he said in a DCD interview earlier in 2019.
“他们把托管市场在Equinix，Digital和RagingWire等公司面前拱手相让。我认为NTT在这场商业博弈中加码的表现异常聪明。”
“They were getting their tushes handed to them by the Equinixes, Digitals and RagingWires of the world, and they backed out. I think NTT was extraordinarily intelligent for doubling down on this business.”
无论是独立的数据中心公司，还是像NTT数据中心这样独立运营的子公司，Bandinelli都认为，行业正在向能够满足市场需求并以较低成本雇佣合格技术人员的纯数据中心提供商转变。
Whether it is standalone data center firms, or subsidiaries like NTT Data Centers operating independently, Bandinelli believes that the world is shifting towards pure-play data center providers that are able to meet market requirements and provide competent technicians at a lower cost.
-END-
翻译：
阮晨鹏
施耐德电气关键电源事业部开放式架构资深设计师
校对 ： Eric 编辑 ：Amy L
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