Equinix and GIC agree to form joint venture

The initial facilities in the joint venture will serve the unique core workload deployment needs of a targeted group of hyperscale companies, including the world's largest cloud service providers. The facilities, on or proximate to some of Equinix's existing IBX^® campuses, will allow these key enablers of digital transformation to streamline their continued growth, while strengthening Equinix's leadership position in the cloud ecosystem, as enterprises increasingly embrace hybrid multicloud as the IT architecture of choice.

For years, hyperscale operators, including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Google Cloud, have partnered with Equinix to leverage its global platform of 200 International Business Exchange™ (IBX) data centers to directly connect to their strategic business partners and customers. Today, Platform Equinix^® offers the most access points—the "on- and off-ramps to the cloud"—to the top global cloud service providers. In addition to these customer access points, hyperscale companies are investing in large-scale data center deployments to accommodate their rapidly growing core workload needs. With xScale data centers, hyperscale companies will now be able to add core deployments at Equinix to their existing access point footprints, enabling their growth on a single platform that spans more than 50 global metros and offers direct interconnection—within a vibrant set of ecosystems—to their customers and strategic business partners.

As hyperscale companies scale their operations at Equinix through xScale data centers and further leverage direct access to the business ecosystems of Equinix's global platform, the "network effect" will also benefit other companies operating at Equinix, including companies with existing direct connections to hyperscale access points at Equinix. The deployment of core hyperscale infrastructure at Equinix through xScale data centers will serve as a magnet, attracting additional partners, application developers and other hyperscale vendors to Equinix's ecosystem, increasing the choice and innovation opportunities for current Equinix customers.

While not a broader entry into the wholesale market, xScale data centers will focus on a targeted group of hyperscale companies that offer significant value to the existing Equinix cloud ecosystem.

xScale data centers will provide hyperscale companies a differentiated value proposition from existing wholesale data center operators in two key areas:

xScale data centers will offer access to Equinix's comprehensive suite of interconnection and edge services. These services will tie into the hyperscale companies' existing access points at Equinix, thereby increasing the speed of connectivity to their existing and future enterprise customers.

xScale data centers will be engineered to meet the technical and operational requirements and price points of core hyperscale workload deployments. This enables hyperscale companies to consolidate core and access point deployments into one global provider to streamline and simplify their rapid growth.

xScale data centers will be managed and staffed by Equinix while ensuring seamless connectivity to the Equinix global platform, providing a consistent experience for the hyperscale companies.

Private connectivity between enterprises, strategic cloud service providers and network services is essential as digital transformation fuels higher demand for localized digital services at the edge. According to the Global Interconnection Index Volume 2, a market study published by Equinix, the capacity for private data exchange between enterprises and cloud and network service providers is forecast to grow nearly 10 times faster than public internet traffic by 2021.