Connecting Mexico to the World

As one of the world’s 15 largest economies and the second largest in LATAM, Mexico remains a bright spot in Latin America’s (LATAM’s) digital economy – even with a projected slowdown due to COVID-19. Consider these digital progress indicators:[i]

• Mexico ranks 38^th out of 193 countries in the UN’s Online Service Index (OSI)
• Government sponsored initiatives such as the Mexican National Open Data Policy and Open Mexico Network helped Mexico rank 7^th in the OECD Open, Useful and Re-Usable Data (OURData) index
• Major cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Alibaba, Amazon Web Services have recently announced new investment and/or training in Mexico
• In an August survey of over 1,500 Mexican consumers, 27% had tried a new digital shopping method during COVID-19

Our own Global Interconnection Index (GXI) Volume 4, an annual market study, predicts that Mexico City will be one of the fastest growing metros in the world for interconnection bandwidth growth with an anticipated 53% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2019 and 2023. The GXI tracks, measures and forecasts the growth of the private interconnection bandwidth required to support the companies driving the digital economy. This growth in interconnection[ii],or the direct exchange of traffic between key business partners, signifies the acceleration of digital transformation across Mexico as regional and multinational service providers and companies build and interconnect digital infrastructure.

Mexico is a strategic connectivity gateway

As one of the largest economies in LATAM, with free trade agreements in place with 50 countries, Mexico has become a natural hub for business and digital ecosystems, as well as an essential part of LATAM’s tech boom. A strong commitment to digitization is evident by government sponsored initiatives and supporting policies, including recent tax reforms for the digital economy. Proximity to U.S. tech hubs like Dallas and Los Angeles has positioned Mexico as digital gateway between key metros in the Americas and the world, including being a major hub to reach cloud service providers (CSPs) from LATAM.

Our opening of three new Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in Mexico earlier this year, two in Querétaro (MX1 and MX2) and one in Monterrey (MO1), provides the following benefits:

Mexico City IBX data centers: Strategically located in Querétaro, outside of seismic zones without flood risk, MX1 and MX2 have multiple diverse fiber entry points that include 12 network service providers currently operating in each carrier-neutral data center. Businesses in Mexico can connect to expand regionally or globally, while multinational businesses can expand their footprint to Mexico.

Monterrey IBX data center: Located near the second-largest market in Mexico, MO1 is a strategic connectivity gateway between the U.S. and Mexico. Companies can now directly connect to networks in Mexico without having to backhaul data to Los Angeles or Dallas.

Connecting Mexico to 63 metros globally

Given Mexico’s importance as a major digital gateway connecting LATAM and the world, I am particularly excited about the following Platform Equinix^® interconnection services that will be available in our new IBX data centers:

Equinix Fabric™  enables you to directly, securely and dynamically connect multiple network and cloud service providers (NSPs and CSPs) and your own distributed infrastructure on-demand via software-defined interconnection in 45+ metros globally on Platform Equinix.

Equinix Internet Exchange^TM allows businesses and service providers to exchange internet traffic through the largest global internet peering solution across more than 30 metros.

Equinix Connect provides internet access in our IBX data centers with flexible bandwidth choices and fast provisioning. Local exchanges, including the Mexico City Internet Exchange, help reduce latency.

Here’s what that means for our different customers:

Enterprises have on-demand and direct access to leading NSPs and CSPs via ECX Fabric, enabling them to scale digital infrastructure as needed with secure, private connections that bypass the public internet.

NSPs can locate in carrier-neutral facilities in the largest growth markets in Mexico and connect to rich ecosystems of 9,500+ companies comprised of enterprises and other service providers. Low-latency international network routes to 63 metros globally, as well as Los Angeles, Dallas (Infomart), Miami and the Network Access Point (NAP) of the Americas interconnection hubs, ensure fast, reliable connectivity. There are also more than 1,800 networks on Platform Equinix for NSPs to peer with to create globally interconnected networks for their customers.

Cloud and IT services providers can directly connect to top NSPs, other CSPs, local Mexican enterprises, multinational companies, etc. There are over 2,900 cloud and IT service providers on Platform Equinix today, including Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and more.

Content and digital media (CDM) providers have a strong peering and network base to facilitate reliable content delivery to end users, support cloud-based workflows and connect to partners in the media ecosystem. Over 600 CDM firms are currently on Platform Equinix.

Financial services businesses can access financial services across the U.S., Mexico and the globe. Local opportunities include the Mexican Stock Exchange, large banks and fintechs headquartered in Mexico. Platform Equinix is home to 1,250+ financial services companies, including 500+ capital markets firms.

Learn more about how Equinix Fabric helps connect Mexico to the world.

You may also be interested in reading our other Mexico and LATAM blogs.

[i] United Nations, E-Government Survey 2020; OECD, Open Government Data, OURdata Index 2019; Microsoft, Microsoft announces a $1.1 billion investment plan to drive digital transformation in country including its first cloud datacenter region, Feb 2020; Latin America Business Stories, How Alibaba is helping to push the digital transformation in Mexico, Oct 2019; AWS, Amazon CloudFront launches in two new countries – Mexico and New Zealand, Sept 2020; McKinsey, Survey: Mexican consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis, Sept 2020.

[ii]Interconnection bandwidth is defined as the total capacity provisioned to privately and directly exchange traffic, with a diverse set of partners and providers, at distributed IT exchange points inside carrier-neutral colocation data centers.