Industry & Business

Equinix, the global interconnection and data centre company, will open 12 new International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centres and expand 23 existing IBX data centres in 2019 as part of an expected $1.730 to $1.920 billion of non-recurring capital expenditure expansion programme for the year. Equinix, which operates four data centres in Dublin, plays a strategic role in advancing enterprise digital transformation, for which global businesses are demanding increasing levels of direct and private connectivity with customers and partners.

This interconnection is optimally achieved through the robust ecosystems of clouds, networks and services available at Equinix globally. By providing new capacity in 2019, Equinix continues to extend Platform Equinix^®, further enabling companies to deploy their IT infrastructure and services at the digital edge in more than 50 metros across the globe.

Through interconnection on Platform Equinix, via the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric), Irish enterprises can collaborate with partners and customers across the world. Equinix’s extended platform of data centres will provide more opportunities for Irish businesses to expand their global reach and scalability.

John Shorten (pictured), Senior Director of Operations for Ireland and Emerging Markets, Equinix, explained: “Through interconnection, Irish businesses are expanding their global reach and creating new digital opportunities by connecting to customers, partners and clouds across their digital supply chain in key markets. More and more companies are choosing interconnection as a way of doing business for security and performance gains. As businesses across the world undergo digital transformation initiatives, Irish enterprises will benefit by being able to collaborate with an even richer matrix of innovators and market leaders in enterprise technology. Expanding Platform Equinix into more markets enables Irish businesses to further build their worldwide digital ecosystems and scale into truly global enterprises.”

2019 Openings

The following new IBX data centres will open in 2019 and, where applicable, will be directly connected to other Equinix IBX data centres within each metro via fibre links between the sites.

Q1 Openings

o   Paris – In March 2019, Equinix opened PA8—its eighth IBX in the Paris metro, and the first new build dedicated to hyperscale customers. Equinix has had early success with PA8, which is currently over 60% pre-leased.

o   Shanghai – In February 2019, Equinix opened its fifth IBX in Shanghai. Located in the Pudong Free-Trade Zone, the SH6 IBX data centre is the largest Equinix facility in Shanghai and is a hub for the trading and financial services sectors. 

Q2 Planned Openings

o   Helsinki – Equinix will open its seventh IBX data centre in Helsinki, HE7, as announced on November 28, 2018.  Helsinki is a digital gateway bridging the gap between Russia, the Baltic states and the rest of Europe through direct digital routes.

o   London – In April 2019, Equinix opened, LD7, its eighth IBX in London to support the growing demand of this strategic market. Including current expansion projects, Equinix will have invested over $1.2 billion to build and expand its presence in the London area.

o   Sofia – Equinix will extend its presence in Bulgaria, opening its second IBX in Sofia, SO2, as announced on October 4, 2018.  Bulgaria is a strategic location within the Balkans with access to the EU, Turkey and the Caucasus.

o   Tokyo – To support the growing demand for increased levels of interconnection from the cloud, network, and financial services sectors, Equinix will open its eleventh and largest IBX in Tokyo, TY11. 

Q3 Planned Openings

o   Melbourne –Equinix will open its fourth IBX in Melbourne, ME2, as announced on March 11, 2019.  Equinix Melbourne IBX data centres offer strong network and cloud connectivity as well as direct access to the Victoria Internet Exchange. In addition, Equinix Melbourne data centres allow Equinix customers to be located in the second-largest economy in Australia.

o   Seoul – South Korea is one of the top 15 largest economies in the world and one of the most vibrant digital economies globally—with high bandwidth and advanced applications driving many of its industries. To support this high-growth market, Equinix will open its first IBX in South Korea, SL1, as announced on January 14, 2019.

o   Sydney – Equinix will open its eighth IBX in Sydney, SY5, as announced on February 25, 2019. SY5 will be Equinix’s largest IBX in Australia.

o   Warsaw – Continuing its investment in Eastern Europe, Equinix will open WA3, its third IBX in Warsaw, Poland.  Warsaw is the capital city of the second-largest economy in Eastern Europe, and is a popular regional headquarters location for large multinational corporations.

Q4 Planned Openings

o   Hamburg – HH1, the first IBX in Hamburg, extends Equinix to its fourth metro in Germany. As announced on January 10, 2019, HH1 will be strategically located in proximity to the North Sea, which will provide easy access for subsea cable landing stations, as Hamburg is a top interconnection point for cables connecting to Frankfurt.

o   Singapore – Equinix will open its fourth IBX in Singapore, SG4, as announced on January 7, 2019.  SG4 will be strategically situated at the East of Singapore in one of the country’s five data centre clusters—Tai Seng Industrial Estate—providing location diversity from the three existing Equinix IBX data centres in Singapore.

2019 Expansions of Existing IBX Data Centres – In addition to the 12 new IBX openings in 2019, Equinix expansions of existing IBX data centres include 23 projects that will open in 2019 in the Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt (three expansion projects), Hong Kong (three expansion projects), London (four expansion projects), Madrid, New York, Osaka, Paris, Perth, Seattle, Stockholm and Zurich (two expansion projects) metros.

Equinix currently operates 202 IBX data centres in 24 countries and 52 metros across 22.2 million gross square feet of data centre space. With more than 341,000 total interconnections that connect companies within the Equinix ecosystem, the company has more than 9,800 customers, including more than 1,800 networks and more than 2,900 cloud and IT service providers. Equinix customers include nearly half of the Fortune 500 and thirty-five percent of the Forbes Global 2000.

Kelly Morgan, Vice President – Datacentre Infrastructure & Services, 451 Research, said: “Connectivity is critical for the development of modern distributed, hybrid, multi-cloud environments. Datacentre facilities that offer the ability to interconnect with an extensive ecosystem of network and cloud providers can provide enterprises with distinctive strategic advantages in their markets. Equinix’s datacentres and its expanding interconnection platform provide the type of environment that enables companies to accelerate their cloud strategies and execute on digital transformation.”

Charles Meyers, CEO of Equinix, said: “As digital transformation is reshaping virtually every industry across the globe, companies are thinking differently about how they interact with every element of their supply chain, and a clear architecture of choice is emerging – one that is cloud-first, distributed and hybrid. To achieve this, their architecture needs to be deployed at the digital edge, where Equinix resides and continues to expand its unmatched global reach with the investments we are making in 2019 and beyond.”