Private data exchange between businesses forecasted to be six times volume of public internet by 2020 – Equinix
Equinix, Inc., the global Interconnection and data centre company, has announced that Bandwidth used in private data exchange between businesses is expected to be six times that of the public internet by 2020. The insights come from the Global Interconnection Index, a new market study published by Equinix. The Index found that Interconnection Bandwidth is outpacing growth of the public internet, growing at nearly twice the rate.
The Global Interconnection Index highlights the effect of digital transformation as companies create entirely new ways of connecting with customers, partners and supply chains. According to the Index, global Interconnection Bandwidth – the total capacity required to privately and directly exchange traffic at distributed IT exchange points – is expected to reach 5,000 Tbps by 2020, compared to an expected 855 Tbps for the public internet. It is forecast to grow 45 per cent CAGR, dwarfing global IP traffic growth of 24 per cent.
Industries leading the growth of Interconnection are banking and insurance, telecommunications and cloud and IT services. It is also influenced by global trends including digital technology use, urbanisation and cybersecurity risk.
Maurice Mortell, managing director for Ireland and emerging markets, Equinix, said: “What we’re seeing is the emergence of a new internet. Mobile, social, cloud and the explosion of data are creating disruption on the scale of the Industrial Revolution. In this new reality, it’s scale or fail for companies. To succeed, they are choosing Interconnection; locating their IT infrastructure in an ecosystem of companies that gather to physically connect with customer and partner networks. Interconnection supports multi-cloud consumption at scale, improves network performance, enables greater operational control and reduces security risk.”
Interconnection and Ireland
Maurice Mortell expects that Ireland will contribute significantly to Interconnection growth in Europe as an increasing number of companies look to locate their data here.
Mortell said: “Interconnection in Europe is expected to grow 44 per cent per annum in terms of Bandwidth as businesses shift to digital. We will continue to invest significantly in Ireland in order to support the huge growth of private interconnections that the digital revolution demands.
“As enterprises continue to adopt a new digital way of working, we expect Ireland to become a go-to location for international businesses needing to interconnect within Europe. The only realistic way for Irish and Irish-based companies to reach all the global markets, partners and people needed to scale and succeed is to adopt an Interconnection-first strategy.”
John Abel, Head of Cloud and Technology, Oracle UK, Ireland and Israel, said: “Data is now the lifeblood of organisations today, and businesses in the UK and Ireland are increasingly relying on it to move closer their customers and partners in their respective ecosystems. It is vital that companies, large and small, ensure that they have infrastructure in place, and interconnection Bandwidth provisioned, that is safe, secure and robust enough to provide them with access to all of their data sources and allow them to use this information to inform their decisions and drive their businesses forward in a digital world.”
Case study – Blueface, Ireland
Irish-founded unified communications provider, Blueface, is using Interconnection to help it achieve 25 per cent year-on-year revenue growth, 16 per cent profit growth and enter new markets. Some 95 per cent of the company’s web traffic is Interconnection-based – mostly through Interconnections with telecoms providers – helping it to provide a robust, reliable service to business customers. The company currently has a presence in seven countries across three continents, with plans to enter three more by 2020.
Group CTO, Nameer Kazzaz, says Interconnection increases the company’s chances of winning a new customer five-fold: “Interconnection is the only thing that makes sense. Previously, businesses were wary of interconnecting and sharing data with each other, as they were afraid a competitor could take their customer. We have seen a lot of opening up of networks lately as companies start to realise the value Interconnection can bring.
“As a unified communications provider for business customers, it’s an absolute must and we wouldn’t enter a new market without an Interconnection-first strategy. If we are looking to win business from a medium-sized enterprise, I would be five times more confident that we would win the deal with Interconnection than I would be without it. Our business would look very different without Interconnection.”
