Equinix Unveils Virtual Network Services on Platform Equinix

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced the next phase in the evolution of Platform Equinix^® with the unveiling of Network Edge services, a new product innovation enabling companies to modernize networks virtually, within minutes, by deploying network functions virtualization (NFV) from multiple vendors to connect their digital supply chains at Equinix.

Designed to accelerate digital transformation for global businesses, Network Edge offers enterprises a new way to deploy network services on Equinix’s global interconnection platform, without a physical data center deployment or hardware requirements. As an additional option within Equinix’s broad portfolio of physical and virtual interconnection services, Network Edge enables enterprises to reduce capital expenses and scale IT and network services globally by virtually deploying a digital-ready infrastructure.

Offered as a broad suite of vendor-neutral, virtual network services, Network Edge allows customers to select, configure and connect network and security devices in real time and from a choice of industry-leading vendors including Cisco, Juniper Networks and Palo Alto Networks. By bringing seamless, ultra-low latency network services closer to end users, clouds and valuable ecosystems in more locations, Network Edge can dramatically improve network optimization efforts in an economical way.

Network Edge also includes built-in integration to Equinix’s global on-demand, SDN-enabled interconnection service, Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™). By combining Network Edge with ECX Fabric, customers can deploy virtual edge devices and interconnect them to clouds and network providers located in new global markets, extending their reach to potentially thousands of new business partners around the world. This empowers companies to be everywhere they need to be to interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their businesses.

Highlights/Key Facts

• As global businesses digitally transform, they require modernized global IT infrastructures in proximity to digital services in order to succeed. They also require high levels of data security and the ability to connect globally with multiple partners across various business ecosystems.
• With Network Edge, enterprises can deploy virtual network services within Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) facilities without upfront capital expenses for additional equipment and infrastructure. Network Edge is also compatible with existing physical deployments on Platform Equinix, further accelerating the path to digital business on a global scale.
• Network Edge offers customers the choice of virtual network services from multiple vendors. Current Network Edge devices available include the Cisco^® Cloud Services Router 1000v, the Juniper^® vSRX Virtual Firewall and Palo Alto Networks^® VM-Series Firewall, with additional edge devices, including the Cisco SD-WAN, being added soon onto Platform Equinix.
• Network Edge is ideal for specific digital business uses cases, such as:
  • Cloud-to-cloud routing—As cloud adoption continues to grow, many applications now span multiple clouds. To maximize data moving from one cloud to another, virtual routers deployed using Network Edge can seamlessly route data with ultra-low latency between two clouds.
  • Migrating from one cloud to another—Deploying a virtual router with Network Edge can create a private connection between two clouds, allowing for more efficient data transfers when moving large amounts of data from one cloud to another for backups, migrations or analytics.
  • Hybrid cloud firewall—To help protect networks with public-facing endpoints created when public-facing applications are hosted on public clouds, Network Edge can be used to deploy virtual cloud firewalls within minutes. Network Edge can also deploy a virtual firewall in conjunction with physical firewalls.
  • Branch-to-cloud SD-WAN—To accelerate the transformation of branch offices, Network Edge will soon offer the ability to quickly build interconnection hubs at Equinix and optimize connectivity between branch locations, cloud providers, SaaS providers and thousands of potential business partners via ECX Fabric.

Quotes

• Sachin Gupta, Senior Vice President, Product Management, Enterprise Networking Business, Cisco
  “As the consumption of applications from multiple clouds continue to grow, enterprise networks are tasked with delivering a fast and secure application experience for their users, wherever they are. Working with Equinix’s Network Edge services allows our enterprise customers to achieve proximity to SaaS and cloud providers for their global locations. The service will also provide the ability to automatically deploy and manage Cisco SD-WAN services to ensure an optimal application experience.”

• Mike Taylor, Chief Technology Officer, World Wide Technology
  “Our customers’ legacy network designs were built to provide connectivity to their centralized private data centers. Today, applications are rapidly moving to the cloud, and those legacy architectures struggle to scale and address the performance demands of their users. The need for a low-latency, interconnected architecture is driving cloud-edge designs that bring end users and business-critical apps closer together, helping them achieve a faster time to market with a network that can match the agility, pace and reach of cloud-native infrastructures. We believe by using Equinix’s new Network Edge services, we can quickly build distributed multicloud infrastructures that help our customers realize the full value of their cloud-based applications.”

• Eric Hanselman, Chief Analyst, 451 Research
  “Digital transformation is driving enterprises to modernize their global IT infrastructures, and the continued adoption of hybrid and multicloud strategies further accentuates this need. As applications become more distributed, residing in both data centers and multiple public clouds, the network must also become distributed, capable of providing consistent policies governing network and security services. Virtual network services like Network Edge, offered in a vendor-neutral fashion and integrated with ECX Fabric, will accelerate global interconnection opportunities for customers. We think these services provide distinct value to enterprises and differentiation for Equinix in the market as well.”

• Bill Long, Vice President, Interconnection Services, Equinix
  “As we continue evolving the Equinix global interconnection platform, we are introducing new product innovations to help enterprises transform their global businesses at the digital edge. With Network Edge, we’re providing both an extraordinary suite of virtual network services, and a compelling value proposition to help enterprises scale globally by deploying digital-ready infrastructures at the edge, within a matter of minutes. By seamlessly integrating Network Edge with our ECX Fabric service, customers can also tap into the world’s largest interconnection ecosystem, virtually, and unlock enormous business value through our platform.” 

Additional Resources

• Learn more about Network Edge [website]
• Learn more about Platform Equinix [website]
• Virtually Modernize Your Network in Minutes [blog]
• Modernize Your Network, Virtually, With Network Edge [webinar]
• Considerations when Deploying an NFV Network Solution [blog]
• How SDN and NFV Technologies are Transforming Network Management [blog]
• Why Network Functions Virtualization Should Be Part of Your Infrastructure Strategy [blog]

About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) connects the world’s leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most-interconnected data centers. On this global platform for digital business, companies come together across more than 50 markets on five continents to reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything they need to create their digital futures. 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 data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; a 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; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix 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.

SOURCE Equinix, Inc.