Leaseweb Expands into Canada with New Object Storage Solution

Global infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and cloud services vendor Leaseweb stands out in a crowded market dominated by three major players. Mathijs Heikamp, the director of product management at Leaseweb, spoke with Channel Insider to share more about how the company enables cost-effective cloud adoption, where 2025 might take them, and more.

Global availability with local support and new object storage offering

Leaseweb has grown steadily since its founding 20 years ago to a now global company offering products and services across cloud, containers, colocation, and cybersecurity. In August, Leaseweb Canada announced its new object storage solution to address partner and customer demand for flexibility and durability in cloud storage. The press release issued by the company highlighted disaster recovery and AI/ML data usage as just two of the many use cases for object storage capabilities.

“Leaseweb Canada is proud to offer an object storage solution that puts the needs of Canadian companies first,” said Leaseweb Canada CEO Roger Brulotte in a press release. “Canada is at the forefront of technological innovation, especially in AI, which is transforming industries such as media, healthcare, finance, education, and more. As these industries continue growing, Canadian companies need a flexible alternative to hyperscaler object storage solutions. With a heightened emphasis on Canadian privacy laws, it’s more important than ever for companies to be able to trust that their data is staying in Canada. With Leaseweb Object Storage, we can offer Canadian businesses an accessible, secure environment with the flexibility to integrate into their existing infrastructures.”

Leaseweb operates 28 data centers throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia and approaches growth through a strategic blend of organic growth and M&A activity. Heikamp said some of this growth has come through customers voicing interest in seeing Leaseweb operate in new places.

“We are very good at having customers grow with us, and that includes growing throughout new countries and locations with us,” Heikamp said.

That global-yet-local approach also contributes to security and uptime qualities in its offerings. The object storage product, for example, promises 99.99% uptime because data is spanned across three availability regions worldwide.

“We see our differentiator as the combination of personal touch and high product performance,” Heikamp added. 

Addressing the rising costs and complexities of traditional cloud providers

Of course, the cloud infrastructure market is dominated by three key players, with a few slightly trailing and then a broader market of smaller players surrounding them. Leaseweb knows it exists in the smaller grouping, but they see a big opportunity in 2025 and beyond.

Heikamp highlighted rising cloud costs and inefficiencies as one of the top reasons he sees customers leave the big players to explore what the smaller vendors have to offer. He pointed out that Leaseweb has had great success with startups and other small enterprises who start their cloud journeys on a hyperscaler but ultimately switch providers once they no longer save through rebates and other incentives.

“There’s more to the world than the hyperscalers. As startups grow, their infrastructure needs to grow, and that often means their costs have to grow, too,” Heikamp said. “We want to be a local partner to everyone, and we’ll continue to grow alongside our partners.”

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