Acquired by Blackstone
Significant reduction in on-site engineering and technical support staff, replaced with offshore or contracted support with longer response times
Deferred maintenance and cooling system upgrades leading to higher risk of outages and reduced power usage effectiveness (PUE)
Price increases of 15-40% at contract renewal, with aggressive renegotiation tactics for existing customers
Reduction in physical security measures (fewer guards, delayed access badge processing, slower incident response)
Delayed or canceled expansion of fiber connectivity and cross-connect options, reducing network redundancy
Announcements about 'optimizing operations' and 'scaling for growth'; key technical staff departures begin; customer success team restructuring announced
First wave of layoffs in facilities and engineering; support ticket response times increase measurably; early contract renegotiation attempts with price increases
Noticeable degradation in facility conditions (temperature inconsistencies, delayed repairs); network latency increases due to deferred upgrades; security incident response slows
Customer churn accelerates among latency-sensitive and compliance-heavy clients; rumors of facility sales or spin-offs; more aggressive cost cutting including critical maintenance
Potential portfolio company sale, IPO preparation with stripped assets, or division into separate real estate and operations entities
Lock in multi-year contracts with price protection clauses before renewal negotiations begin
Demand detailed SLAs with explicit penalties for latency, uptime, and support response time degradation
Audit current redundancy architecture and confirm failover capabilities to alternative facilities not under same ownership
Document baseline performance metrics (PUE, latency, ticket resolution times) now for comparison
Negotiate contract terms allowing termination without penalty if key certifications (SOC 2, ISO 27001) lapse
Look for family-owned or employee-owned businesses