The U.S. federal government represents an attractive market for IT service providers. According to research by Deltek, the Federal IT market is projected to grow from $116.6 billion in 2020 to $118.3 billion in 2022. But selling IT services to the federal government is no easy task. In addition to meeting complex IT procurement and compliance requirements, the policies affecting these requirements often change. As a case in point, agencies could previously work with IT providers authorized by federal contracts, such as Networx, Washington Interagency Telecommunications (WITS) or Local Service Agreements (LSAs), for telecom services. Today all of those contracts are being consolidated into one Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract vehicle to which federal agencies must migrate their all telecom services by September 2022.
Total Contractor Addressable Federal IT Market, FY 2020-2022
Source: Deltek[i]
Given these complexities, it’s no surprise that federal IT teams are increasingly turning to trusted advisors such as Equinix to help address these requirements at a higher level. For example, an agency may need to accomplish a mission with a certain level of speed, security and reliability while maintaining the flexibility to move between providers and scale as needed. They’ll ask us “Can you help us put it together?” As a vendor-neutral platform, Equinix has been trusted by hundreds of federal missions to help them meet their goals with end-to-end, best-of-breed network, cloud, and system integrator solutions and services.
SDN-Enabled Network as a Service is an Effective Solution for Government Agencies
With Network as a Service (NaaS), federal government agencies have a great alternative to traditional networks. The extended utility, mission agility and cost-effectiveness of SDN-enabled NaaS solutions are more application-centric and have an application programming interface (API) integration to help customers connect to a variety of digital services.
Read MoreCase study: Redesigning a national network for a federal agency
With over a hundred different endpoints to connect across the U.S., a large federal agency needed to redesign its national network for improved efficiency, transparency and simplicity. Rather than broker out requirements to individual vendors, the agency approached Equinix to design and deploy an end-to-end hybrid solution for its network. By leveraging regional interconnection hubs on Platform Equinix® adjacent to network and cloud ecosystems, we were able to help this agency modernize its network, optimize performance and scalability while improving efficiency. As a result, our carrier network partners became part of an innovative, agile solution that is backed by the power of Platform Equinix ecosystems and delights the customer.
Benefits of partnering with Equinix to provide government digital services
In addition to expanded access to market opportunities and innovative architectures, IT service providers that partner with Equinix on federal projects can gain benefits such as:
- Global reach: Some federal initiatives cover multiple geographic regions. Equinix can help support that with 220+ Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers interconnected physically and virtually across 63 metros globally.
- Compliance, standards and security: Equinix has the following certifications and accreditation for critical federal compliance standards and security controls – NIST 800/53 Fisma High, ISO 27001, SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, FedRAMP-authorized, HIPAA and PCI DSS. In terms of physical security, Equinix supports five-layers of security that include 24/7 manned security stations, mantraps and biometric readers per our Global IBX data center policies.
- Access to digital ecosystems: Helping agencies successfully meet their mission goals typically depends on having fast and secure interconnection to multiple digital, intra-agency and commercial partners. Platform Equinix provides access to rich digital ecosystems of more than 1,800 networks, 2,900+ cloud and IT service providers, 600+ content and digital media providers and 1,250+ financial services. Digital ecosystems in connected cars, AIand 5G are also beginning to emerge.
- Partnering with a trusted leader: As shown below, Equinix is positioned in the Leaders Category in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services 2019-2020 Vendor Assessment. According to the IDC MarketScape, “In combination with the strategic locations, access to the richest ecosystems and ability to integrate edge services on demand, Platform Equinix provides customers value that is extremely difficult and expensive for its rivals to emulate.”[ii]
See endnote[iii] for more details on this diagram.
Delivery model use cases to generate new value
Partnering with Equinix to deliver IT services to federal agencies can help service providers continually refine their portfolio, diversify their offerings and generate new value. For example,
Network service providers (NSPs) can:
- Leverage Platform Equinix products and services on a “white-label” basis.
- Expand network offerings through one of the largest global peering solutions across 30 markets.
- Create hybrid network, cloud or “Anything” as a Service offerings.
- Access advanced capabilities such as Equinix FabricTM, Network Edge and Equinix MetalTM to deliver new services.
Cloud service providers (CSPs) can:
- Extend their cloud ecosystem to include digital and business ecosystems on Platform Equinix.
- Reduce latency by getting customers on-net sooner.
- Increase bandwidth on-demand.
- Reduce the cost of delivery.
- Align cloud services and enablement programs to a rich ecosystem of providers.
- Resell Equinix services versus build your own.
To learn more about why the world’s leading IT providers partner with Equinix to deliver innovative IT solutions and services, check out the Equinix partner page.
You can also download the white paper “SDN-Enabled Network as a Service is an Effective Solution for Government Agencies” and scheduled an interactive virtual Digital Edge Strategy Briefing to find out more about how Equinix is helping government agencies modernize their network with software-defined Networking as a Service (NaaS).
[i] Deltek, Federal Information Technology Market, 2020-2022.
[ii] IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation and Interconnection Services 2019–2020 Vendor Assessment by Courtney Munroe, THIS IDC MARKETSCAPE EXCERPT FEATURES EQUINIX, Doc ID #US45717419e, December 2019.
[iii] IDC diagram note: IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of ICT suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each vendor’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures vendor product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of vendor strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Vendor market share is represented by the size of the icons.
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