Looking back on the expansion of our cloud ecosystem over the last year, it was a whirlwind of activity. We witnessed hybrid and multicloud deployments gain momentum within the enterprise. We also saw some remarkable expansion of the global cloud footprint in our more than 100 worldwide Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers. And, as we reported in our recent Enterprises Re-Architect IT with Equinix Interconnection Solutions press release, nearly one hundred companies – enterprises, networks and cloud service providers – have joined the Equinix Cloud Exchange, which is currently available in 19 markets globally.
Here is a roundup of some of the top cloud trends we’re proud to have been a part of over last year:
Hybrid -Cloud-as-a-Service – The introduction of our multicloud interconnection platform in April 2014, the Equinix Cloud Exchange, was the catalyst for much of the expansion in what has organically grown into a Hybrid-Cloud-as-a-Service (HCaaS) ecosystem within our global IBX data centers. Our seamless virtual interconnections to multiple private and public cloud services have attracted new cloud Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service partners, such as Google Cloud Platform, IBM Softlayer,Cisco Intercloud and CloudSigma.
We’ve also added a number of global private, public and hybrid cloud service providers, such as BlueBox, Firehost and DataPipe, to our HCaaS cloud ecosystem to make hybrid cloud migration easier for enterprises. Companies, such as Four Square and HarperCollins (a division of the NewsCorp Group) are realizing the direct benefits of greater productivity and growth from the on-demand scalability provided by Equinix’s HCaaS ecosystem.
The multicloud revolution – More and more enterprises realize that one cloud service does not fit all of their needs. In a survey by Dimensional Research, 77% of IT decision makers said they intend to implement multicloud architectures, with 91% of them planning to deploy cloud-based offerings over the next 12 months.
The multicloud trend has contributed to a growing diversity within our own cloud ecosystem, with content, storage, big data and SaaS providers, such as CloudFlare, NetApp, GoGrid and Marketo, offering their cloud application services to our more than 4,500 customers. The breadth and depth of services within our cloud ecosystem enable our customers and partners to match the best cloud services to their business needs, at the best price.
The interconnected cloud – Our cloud ecosystem would not be complete without the more than 1,000 carriers and network service providers (NSPs) that deliver world-class, fast interconnections among our 450+ cloud providers. Carriers and NSPs that joined our cloud ecosystem last year include: AT&T, Level 3, Orange Business Services, XO Communications, and tw telecom.
Our focus and commitment to providing the widest choice of vendor-neutral interconnection and connectivity is one of the primary reasons that our cloud ecosystem continues to flourish.
Global cloud expansion ̶ Last year, we saw a rapid global expansion of our cloud ecosystems. In Europe, we crisscrossed EMEA with our expanding cloud services in Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, Paris and Zurich. In Asia-Pacific, we’ve extended cloud service access to meet the high cloud demand in Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne. We also gained a huge presence in South America with the acquisition of data centers in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
With even more global IBX data center colocation facilities opening in 2015, we expect to see more cloud and network services join our ecosystem and expand our worldwide cloud footprint into new markets.
More to come ̶ We’re proud to have contributed to the development of such a rich set of cloud capabilities and what could prove to be the foundation for cloud computing in the emerging digital economy for years to come.
With cloud topping the charts as one of our fastest growing ecosystems over the last year, we can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store for us, our cloud partners and customers.
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