Digital transformation is clearly shifting companies’ IT infrastructures closer to clouds and to the edge. But in making this move, how can you ensure the maximum value for your business? Industry leading enterprises and service providers have realized that gaining a competitive advantage in the global digital economy means building a presence in the most strategic locations, directly and securely interconnecting with best-in-breed partners, and accessing on-demand edge services. These digital business requirements, in conjunction with increasing enterprise demands for third-party space and power and access to more flexible and cost-effective on-demand services (e.g., clouds, networks, security), are driving the growth of colocation and interconnection services.
In its inaugural assessment of the colocation and interconnection services market, IDC explores the vital role that leading providers play in a business’ digital transformation. The IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services 2019- 2020 Vendor Assessment[i] looks at the factors driving the steady growth in the colocation and interconnection sector and analyzes the current and future capabilities of the nine top colocation vendors worldwide. We’re thrilled that the IDC MarketScape recognized Equinix as a leader in worldwide colocation and interconnection services. This honor validates our dedication to helping our customers solve their digital business transformation challenges and create a more competitive business advantage by leveraging the unique capabilities of Platform Equinix®.
IDC recognized Equinix as a leader in colocation and interconnection services
Read this competitive assessment of nine interconnection and colocation service vendors to complement your understanding of key benefits of critical infrastructure provider Equinix.
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IDC MarketScape: What to look for in colocation and interconnection services
The IDC MarketScape report evaluates nine leading colocation providers from North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific that range in size and specialty, and includes wholesale and retail-oriented companies, as well as those that offer managed services. The IDC MarketScape vendor evaluation criteria also required the companies to have an international footprint in at least two continents and have at least $500 million in annual revenue.
According to the IDC MarketScape report, enterprises should seek colocation and interconnection services providers based on the following criteria:
- Specific requirements for wholesale or retail data center space, power and cooling and “fortress-like” physical security. Bare metal capabilities, honed automation, security and virtualization services are also desirable.
- Easy access to interconnection capabilities (network providers and internet exchanges) and leading cloud and SaaS providers, along with on-net management capabilities such as WAN scalability and visibility.
- Business ecosystems that enable best-in-breed partnerships – this could be within specific industries and across supply chains.
- Expert consulting, migration or managed services (i.e., network, cloud).
From the report, companies can see comparisons among the different colocation and interconnection services providers based on these capabilities, which are critical requirements for a business’ digital transformation.
Being recognized by the IDC MarketScape as a leader in the colocation and interconnection services industry demonstrates our commitment to our customers and their continued success as leading digital businesses.
What makes Equinix a great option to build your business advantage
The IDC MarketScape positions us as a leader in colocation and interconnection services. That recognition is just the tip of the iceberg. We continued to invest in our global platform to enable our customers to leap ahead in deploying future-proof digital infrastructures and services. Our unique combination of vendor-agnostic colocation data centers in strategic metros worldwide, interconnection to rich ecosystems, and access to critical edge services enable greater value creation for our customers and their users. Our customers’ accelerated growth across our global platform, such as with Sysco Corp. and Zoom, is a testimony to the value digital businesses are realizing on Platform Equinix.
Here are some of the ways we deliver value and differentiation to our global customers:
Scaling geographic and market presence:
As enterprises and solution providers look to scale globally or launch into new markets, a consistent and reliable colocation and interconnection platform is paramount to accelerate expansion and speed time to market. Platform Equinix enables our customers to quickly build IT infrastructures in Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers and expand their footprint worldwide, connect with existing and new partners, and fast-track their solutions into new markets with unsurpassed efficiency and lower cost.
Interconnecting with dense ecosystems:
To accelerate their digital transformation, businesses require direct and secure interconnection to high-value partners and supply chains. Platform Equinix is home to rich digital and business ecosystems, which are rapidly growing worldwide. Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™) brings enterprises and service providers closer via high-speed, single-digit latency connections that significantly improve digital business performance. For our expanding hyperscale ecosystem, our recently announced xScale data centers will support the world’s leading hyperscale cloud providers’ unique core workload needs and accelerate connectivity to their existing and future enterprise customers. In addition, our customers can leverage our expert consulting services and the Equinix Marketplace to select the right networking, cloud, security or managed services partner for their specific application.
Leveraging on-demand services:
As digital business continues its rapid growth at the edge, enterprises require access to a variety of on-demand edge services to create new value and growth. Platform Equinix supports a number of vendor-agnostic edge services that offer network virtualization and encryption key security capabilities to our customers using a cost-effective OPEX model. Network Edge leverages the power of on-demand network functions virtualization (NFV) and enables digital enterprises to quickly deploy more modern, virtual SD-WAN infrastructures. Our cloud-agnostic hardware security module (HSM)-as-a-service, Equinix SmartKey, provides key management system (KMS) protection for our customers’ on-premises and cloud environments. In addition, we recently announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire Packet, the leading bare metal automation platform, to help enterprises more seamlessly deploy hybrid multicloud architectures on Platform Equinix.
The rapid expansion of our global footprint, vibrant ecosystems and portfolio of edge services enables our customers to gain new value via the new markets, partnerships and capabilities they develop on Platform Equinix. Being recognized by the IDC MarketScape as a leader in the colocation and interconnection services industry demonstrates our commitment to our customers and their continued success as leading digital businesses.
Learn more about why Equinix has been recognized as a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services 2019- 2020 Vendor Assessment.
[i] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services 2019- 2020 Vendor Assessment, by Courtney Munroe, December 2019, IDC #US45717419.
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