Equinix Cloud Exchange Expands in Europe to Accelerate Digital Transformation

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and LONDON, March 21, 2017

Equinix data centers house a growing cloud ecosystem of over 500 Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and SaaS solutions globally. The Equinix Cloud Exchange offers direct, private connections to more than 50 leading CSPs including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, IBM SoftLayer, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute and Office 365, Oracle Cloud and Salesforce. This interconnected approach allows companies to boost cloud application performance, reduce latency, scale and improve network control and visibility—delivering a quality cloud experience to end users.

Highlights / Key Facts

• Equinix Cloud Exchange is an advanced interconnection solution that enables seamless, on-demand and direct access to multiple clouds and multiple networks across the globe. By bringing together cloud service providers with enterprises consuming cloud and enabling them to establish private, high-performance connections, the Equinix Cloud Exchange gives enterprises direct access to the services they need to build sophisticated hybrid cloud solutions inside Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers.
• Since its initial launch in 2014, more than 625 businesses have connected globally to the Equinix Cloud Exchange including Aon, Beeks Financial Cloud, CDM Smith, Ellie Mae, Hathaway Dinwiddie, and Walmart. Equinix has continued to see strong demand for cloud connectivity — year-over-year growth of Equinix Cloud Exchange more than doubled from 2015 to 2016.
• The addition of Cloud Exchange in three new markets in addition to the five existing European markets (London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich) means extending companies' ability to access low-latency, private cloud connectivity without going over the public internet or a WAN. More Europe-based businesses can now leverage the performance, security and a consistent quality of experience that only direct, private connectivity can deliver.
• Equinix Cloud Exchange offers software-defined direct connections to multiple cloud services from a single physical port at both Layer 2 and Layer 3, so enterprises can easily access cloud-based services. Real-time provisioning of connections gives enterprise the flexibility to ramp up and down services according to their changing business requirements.
• The European Commission states, "The huge potential of the digital economy is underexploited in Europe, with 41% of enterprises being non-digital, and only two percent taking full advantage of digital opportunities."¹ As European businesses undergo digital transformation, many will turn to cloud-based technologies, as the cloud has been a catalyst for global IT transformation. To support this shift, Equinix will roll out Cloud Exchange in the following key European metros, making Cloud Exchange available in 24 markets by the end of 2017:
  • Dublin (available March) – At a time when global volumes of data are mushrooming, that presents both indigenous and foreign direct investment (FDI) companies with an abundance of opportunity, unique to Ireland. Coupled with the country's favorable corporate tax structure, data privacy laws and potential for mining big data, Ireland continues to be an attractive destination for digital business infrastructure.
  • Milan (available September) – Milan is the economic and financial heart of Italy and is the country's second largest city, playing a vital role in the Italian economy which is the third largest in the Eurozone. Furthermore, Italian enterprises use of cloud computing (40%) is more than double the Eurozone average (19%).²
  • Stockholm (available September) – Stockholm's status as a key international business and technology hub is growing dramatically. The city has been ranked as a top "future region" by the Financial Times, as well as Europe's best region in terms of prospects for inward investment and for economic and business expansion.

Equinix's interconnection and data center platform has become the home of the interconnected cloud globally, with more than 150 colocation facilities located across 41 markets. According to a recent report by Gartner – Deliver Data Center Modernization Using Three Cloud-Complementary Approaches (February 2017) – digital businesses should, "Enhance data center interconnection capabilities with cloud providers and digital business partners by building colocation network hubs."

Quotes

• Ross Winser, research director, Gartner; "Deliver Data Center Modernization Using Three Cloud-Complementary Approaches (February 2017)":
  "As digital business strategies progress, reliance increases on cloud-based systems and cloud-based partners that participate in transactions (or host entire systems). Accordingly, data center modernization strategies must address the critical need for interconnectivity among data centers, cloud suppliers and business partners, as well as customers.[…] Consider using colocation network hubs to connect directly with cloud partners using high-bandwidth, low-latency, standardized connections located within the colocation facility to remove the unpredictability of internet-based cloud connections. This can improve the performance of hybrid system architectures that are heavily influenced by network performance between the cloud providers and the enterprise infrastructure."
• Eric Schwartz, president, Equinix EMEA:
  "When Equinix introduced Cloud Exchange, businesses were just beginning to leverage the cloud but there was still serious scepticism around performance and security. Over the last few years however, global business adoption of cloud has been tremendous and now we see customers securely connecting to many clouds and across multiple regions all on the Equinix Cloud Exchange. We believe these three new markets will make Cloud Exchange that much more appealing for enterprises looking to distribute their cloud infrastructure across Europe.

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