REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced that it will be among the first to offer private, managed connections to Microsoft Office 365 via Azure ExpressRoute through the Equinix Cloud Exchange(TM). Available in Q3 of this year, direct access to Office 365 from inside Equinix will be available in 15 markets worldwide.

As many business applications migrate to a cloud-delivery model, enterprise customers are looking for cloud connectivity solutions that offer more consistent and reliable performance than the public Internet. Bandwidth and latency-sensitive productivity applications such as Office 365 specifically benefit from a direct access solution. By providing private, secure access to Office 365, Equinix ensures that enterprise customers will achieve predictable network performance, the ability to better manage network availability and the reliability that comes with dedicated connectivity. In addition, when connecting to Office 365 via Azure ExpressRoute at Equinix, businesses gain additional assurance of privacy with the ability to bypass the public Internet.

Highlights / Key Facts


    --  Equinix first launched its partnership with Microsoft in April 2014, and
        today offers direct connection to Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute in 15
        markets globally via the Equinix Cloud Exchange. Direct access to Office
        365 will be available in all 15 markets, including Amsterdam, Atlanta,
        Chicago, Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Osaka,
        Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.
    --  According to a recent Forrester report, "Beware the Pitfalls Within
        Networking for Hybrid Cloud," end-user experience should be a company's
        top priority when considering cloud connectivity options for business
        productivity applications. With this announcement, Equinix and Microsoft
        are enabling the enterprise to use its existing MPLS or wide area
        network (WAN) infrastructure to get high speed, secure access to Office
        365, thus ensuring a better end-user experience. In addition, if
        companies access Azure ExpressRoute through Equinix Cloud Exchange they
        can dynamically manage and allocate their bandwidth requirement,
        ensuring that specific applications get the priority they need to
        deliver the performance required - across a single port.
    --  Azure ExpressRoute provides high-performance, private connections
        between enterprise IT environments and Microsoft Azure, a cloud service
        used by 57 percent of the Fortune 500. Azure ExpressRoute offers greater
        privacy than typical cloud connections and enables customers to build
        hybrid cloud environments with enterprise-grade control and reliability.

Quotes



    --  Chris Sharp, vice president, cloud innovation, Equinix"By offering
        direct access to Office 365 on Cloud Exchange, we are helping our
        enterprise customers get the most out of their cloud investments.
        Private access to Office 365 results in lower latency and higher
        performing connections, thus providing business grade performance and
        the end-user experiences that enterprises are demanding with their
        adoption of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications."

    --  Mike Schutz, GM of Cloud Platform, Microsoft"Office 365 customers have
        been asking for direct connectivity to Office 365 since Azure
        ExpressRoute launched last year, and we're pleased that Equinix will be
        among the first to offer it through Cloud Exchange. With network
        performance as predictable as a customer's own on-premises environment,
        ExpressRoute for Office 365 is like having the full Office 365
        productivity solution in your own datacenter. It is a great option for
        organizations that require premium, managed connectivity to their
        productivity services."

Additional Resources 


    --  Equinix and Microsoft to Provide Private Access to Office 365 [Equinix
        blog post]
    --  Beware the Pitfalls Within Networking for Hybrid Cloud - March 2, 2015
        [Forrester Research, Inc. report]
    --  Announcing the First Network Partners to Offer ExpressRoute for Office
        365 [Microsoft blog post]
    --  Cloud Exchange and Microsoft Azure [website]

About Equinix
 Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centers. In 33 markets worldwide, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. http://www.equinix.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

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SOURCE Equinix, Inc.