Equinix already operates 45 data centers in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, which house infrastructure for customers including Google, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, Netflix and the Nasdaq stock exchange. With the Switch & Data acquisition, expected to close in the first quarter of next year, it will add 34 more across the U.S. and Canada.

Both companies provide data-center facilities on high-speed network lines where enterprises and service providers can run applications and store data for delivery in a region. The acquisition will help Equinix address two key trends: the growing demand for online data, and the aggregation and distribution of enterprise resources, the companies said. Equinix will gain data-center space in 16 new markets, including Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Toronto, while Switch & Data customers will gain overseas reach.

The total size of Equinix's data centers will expand by more than 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters) to exceed 6 million square feet.