Originally posted on Data Center POST.

At infra/STRUCTURE Summit 2025, industry leaders from Layer 7 Capital, Hivelocity, and 365 Data Centers discussed issues facing private and edge cloud services.

The infra/STRUCTURE Summit 2025, held at The Wynn Las Vegas October 15-16, 2025, brought together some of the most dynamic individuals in the digital infrastructure industry to explore some of the major challenges in the age of artificial intelligence. Among the most future-forward sessions was “M&A Challenges and Opportunities in Private Cloud and Edge Cloud” markets.

Moderated by Steve Lee, managing director at Layer 7 Capital, a seasoned voice in infrastructure services, the discussion included Jeremy Pease, CEO of Hivelocity, and Bob DeSantis, CEO of 365 Data Centers, where they covered the rapidly evolving digital-infrastructure landscape of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in private-cloud and edge-cloud markets.

AI Is Redrawing the Map of Global Opportunity

The changes in this landscape are being driven not just by traditional scale, but by shifting partner ecosystems, platform consolidation, and the rising importance of bare-metal/edge solutions.

This topic matters because as a major platform, vendors change strategy and partner models and cloud/colocation providers must adapt or risk being left behind. The conversation touched on the implications of big acquisitions (for example, around virtualization platforms), how service-providers are responding, and what this means for M&A opportunities. Major platform shifts – particularly by vendors like Broadcom after its acquisition of VMware – are up-ending partner ecosystems, costing service-providers, and forcing new strategies.

“VMware’s partner count has been dramatically cut, from thousands to around 15 in the U.S., creating major uncertainty for providers,” Pease said.

“365 Data Centers,” DeSantis said, “is moving toward open-source solutions and white-labeling strategies to manage cost and complexity.”

Platform Disruption Impacts Partner Ecosystems and Cost Models

Acquisitions, like Broadcom’s, has disrupted the virtualization and private-cloud ecosystem by reducing the number of official partners significantly. “This has ripple effects,” Pease said, “for colocation and cloud-services providers: Many must now renegotiate, restructure, or even exit current programs to continue offering VMware-based services.”

Cost models have changed, Pease noted: “Some companies are saving, but many solution-providers are challenged by the new partner-economics and the uncertain support model. This is relevant because, when the vendor-partner dynamic changes so drastically, service-providers face strategic and operational recalibration: Which platform do I back? What will customers expect? What will the margin look like?”

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