Colocation giant Equinix will acquire bare-metal cloud startup Packet in a deal that reflects the growing importance of edge computing. Equinix plans to combine its interconnection technologies with Packet’s developer-focused bare metal service to allow customers to more quickly deploy computing resources in edge locations close to the end user.

“By acquiring Packet we are making it easier for enterprises to seamlessly deploy multi-cloud solutions at Equinix and extract greater value from our rich ecosystems and global interconnection platform,” said Sara Baack, chief product officer at Equinix in a statement. “Our combined strengths will further empower companies to be everywhere they need to be, to interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their business.”

The company said it will disclose additional details of the transaction after it closes, which it expects to happen this quarter.

It’s the latest in a string of multi-million-dollar acquisitions for Equinix, and these tend to be smart business moves for the data center behemoth, said John Dinsdale, chief analyst and research director at Synergy Research Group.

“Equinix has a long history of making good acquisition decisions and then executing well on transition plans,” Dinsdale said. “Over the last 10 years, Equinix has spent over $11 billion on 15 substantial acquisitions, which have helped to dramatically increase its infrastructure footprint and capabilities. That massive expansion has been well managed, and I don’t get the sense of any internal cultural or operational barriers that could hinder its success.”

Equinix dominates the colocation market with more than 200 data centers in 55 markets globally. But these are typically huge facilities located in major internet hubs such as Silicon Valley, Dallas, and Ashburn, Virginia.

This infrastructure works for a centralized cloud computing model. But as more mobile devices connect to the network and emerging latency-sensitive technologies like IoT and virtual reality require data to be processed as close to the users and devices as possible, a decentralized computing approach becomes necessary. And this puts pressure on big data center operators like Equinix to build out edge infrastructure so they can offer customers these types of services at the edge.

In fact, Equinix CEO Charles Meyers fielded questions last week about how Equinix plans to provide network edge capabilities. “[Edge] is something we need to be very aware of and cognizant of and figure out how it impacts how we execute our business,” he said. “At some point in the future, we are going to want to extend the reach of Platform Equinix to a broader geographic scope.”

Today’s acquisition news puts Equinix’s edge strategy into focus. And, as of now, it centers on Packet.

Packet is a 6-year-old bare metal cloud startup that has raised $36.6 million to date. It moved into edge computing a couple of years ago and has since partnered with companies including Sprint, Vapor IO, EdgeConneX to provide network edge computing capabilities on its bare metal cloud.

“Regarding bare metal services specifically, which is what Packet is all about, they are a key piece of the service portfolio being sought out by enterprises,” Dinsdale said. “Enterprises want to be able to access a full spectrum of options from on-prem data center infrastructure to public cloud services; bare metal is a middle ground that is attractive middle ground for many enterprises and use cases. Equinix has a global footprint with presence in most key metros around the world, which lends itself to supporting bare metal and edge services.”

In a blog post about the acquisition, Packet CEO and co-founder Zachary Smith recounts sitting in a Manhattan beer garden with his twin brother, Packet CMO and co-founder Jacob Smith, “summoning the courage to start Packet” in the spring of 2014.

“Jacob and I came to the only obvious conclusion: we were horribly positioned to change the way technology was consumed. We had no balance sheet, no global scale, no expertise with real estate, and no connectivity story,” Zachary wrote in the blog. “We said to each other: ‘You know who should do this one day? Who should be in the ping, power and processors business? Equinix.’ Funny how things work out sometimes.”