Verizon on Tuesday morning confirmed rumors that had been swirling for months as it announced the sale of 24 data center sites to Equinix.

The transaction is valued at some $3.6 billion and will hand over 24 Verizon customer-facing data center sites – including 29 buildings in the United States and Latin America – to Equinix. The 29 data center buildings included in the deal are located in Atlanta (Atlanta and Norcross), Bogotá, Boston (Billerica), Chicago (Westmont), Culpeper, Dallas (Irving, Richardson-Alma and Richardson-Pkwy), Denver (Englewood), Houston, Los Angeles (Torrance), Miami (Miami and Doral), New York (Carteret, Elmsford and Piscataway), São Paulo, Seattle (Kent), Silicon Valley (Santa Clara and San Jose), and Washington, D.C. (Ashburn, Manassas, and Herndon), Equinix said.

Verizon noted the move is in line with its focus on dedicating its resources to areas that will “help drive digital transformation for enterprise customers.”

The transaction will boost Equinix’s total global footprint to 175 data centers in 43 markets, the company said. Also included in the deal are around 900 customers, which Equinix said will add a “significant number” of new enterprise customers to its platform.

According to Equinix, around 250 Verizon employees, mostly running the operations functions of the data centers in question, will make the jump to Equinix.

In addition to boosting the company’s footprint and customer base, Equinix CEO Steve Smith noted the deal is expected to by “immediately accretive to our adjusted funds from operations per share” and will thus provide “significant value for shareholders.”

“This deal is a significant win for our existing customers, who will gain access to new locations, ecosystems and partners,” Equinix Americas President Karl Strohmeyer added. “It is also a win for the new companies joining Equinix, as they will be able to leverage Equinix’s global footprint and unique interconnection services. At Equinix, companies can architect a globally consistent platform within local metros, keeping their critical data and processing capabilities as close as possible to the digital edge and end-users.”

Verizon said the deal won’t impact its managed hosting and cloud offerings or its data center services delivered from its 27 other sites across Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Canada.

The deal is expected to close in mid-2017.