Canada's Shaw Communications has sold its data service subsidiary ViaWest in a $1.7B deal.

The Denver-based data center company that provides cloud-based solutions was acquired by Peak 10 Holding Corp., the company announced Tuesday. Together the combined companies will create the largest privately owned data center company in North America.

Shaw said the deal frees up funds for the telecommunications firm to expand its wireless business to better compete with industry players like Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., Bloomberg reports. S&P Global Ratings said ViaWest’s credit rating may be slashed down a notch in Q3 after the company loses Shaw’s support.

Bloomberg said the deal signals continued strength in today’s booming data center and cloud storage market, which is creating essential new revenue streams for top tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft. Real estate companies are also increasingly turning to cloud computing to make more money by increasing efficiencies, and the jump in cloud adoption is projected to continue boosting demand for data centers for the foreseeable future.