REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and LONDON, March 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data centre company, today announced that it will be significantly expanding the availability of the Equinix Cloud Exchange(TM), bringing the innovative solution to three new markets including Dublin, Milan and Stockholm. Bringing direct, private access to multiple cloud providers to these new markets supports European businesses who are undergoing digital transformation and enables global enterprises to simultaneously orchestrate hybrid and multi-cloud solutions across multiple locations and gain the global scale, performance and security they need to compete. These new markets also provide additional flexibility with where enterprises locate their cloud workloads and data across the region depending on their business needs and local regulations.

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(TM) (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.

Additional Resources


    --  Maximizing Cloud Impact - A New Paradigm for Connecting Clouds within
        the Enterprise [white paper]
    --  How Interconnected Clouds Can Boost Your Performance for Less Cost
        [blog]
    --  Equinix Cloud Exchange Availability Map [graphic]
    --  Cloud Exchange for Enterprise [video]

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most interconnected data centres. In 41 markets across five continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. 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 centres 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 centres; 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.

(1) European Commission web page, "The importance of the digital economy". https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/digital-economy/importance_en
(2) "Cloud computing - Statistics on the use by enterprises" by Eurostat, 2014. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/6208098/4-09122014-AP-EN.pdf/627ddf4f-730a-46ca-856b-32532d8325c5

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SOURCE Equinix, Inc.