Bringing direct, private access to multiple cloud providers to these new markets would support European businesses who are undergoing digital transformation and enable global enterprises to simultaneously orchestrate hybrid and multi-cloud solutions across multiple locations. 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 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.
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.
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 enterprises the flexibility to ramp up and down services according to their changing business requirements.
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.
“When Equinix introduced Cloud Exchange, businesses were just beginning to leverage the cloud but there was still serious scepticism around performance and security,” said Eric Schwartz, president, Equinix EMEA. ” 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.”
