As the pandemic continued through unpredictable ups and downs in 2021, business leaders faced the new normal: a constant state of flux. Many companies were immersed in applying and refining their digital-first strategies for competitive advantage in the digital economy. Simultaneously, we saw partners in the Equinix ecosystem continue to step up their support to help customers advance their journeys to digital leadership.
Enterprises are finding there is strength in numbers, and they are rightly convinced there’s not a single company equipped to meet the broad range of challenges in the digital economy on their own. Nor is relying on a single partner necessary when there’s a vibrant ecosystem of over 1,800 network service providers and 2,900 cloud and service providers at Equinix ready to power customer success with specific solutions and services. The Global Interconnection Index, Volume 5 reports that digital enterprises and digital native SaaS companies are interconnecting with 30 different partners (on average) to power their digital transformation initiatives and gain access to best-of-breed services.
Partners and solutions that power digital success
The extensive range of partners in the Equinix ecosystem includes technology, network and cloud service providers, managed service providers, systems integrators and value-added resellers. As businesses strive to establish their digital presence and transform experiences at the edge, their reliance on technology, services and delivery through partners is crucial to success. With the Equinix partner ecosystem, businesses can choose specific providers based on expertise relevant to specific projects and initiatives. At the center is Platform Equinix®, with its powerful vendor-neutral digital infrastructure that helps businesses get closer to prospective partners across the world. In addition, Equinix Fabric™ makes it quick and easy for customers to interconnect with the partners they need, on-demand.
What Equinix partners accomplished in 2021
Overall Equinix partner performance in 2021 repeatedly broke quarterly records in total bookings, % of company new bookings, and contributions to new logos. As enterprise business models morphed, Equinix partners pivoted with grace. Careful analysis of trends across multiple industries steered partner innovation and accelerated delivery of enhanced or new products and services from top Equinix partners around the globe. Digital readiness continued to be the primary focus, and partners demonstrated tremendous leadership in helping customers adopt new digital business models quickly. Best of all, based on our observations, this trend is expected to continue. This year’s Equinix Partner Awards recognize partners who were at the forefront of propelling customers forward on their digital transformation journeys.
Congratulations to this year’s Equinix Partner Awards winners! We are delighted to celebrate the tremendous results you achieved through our partner ecosystem and on behalf of our shared customers. You continued to rise above the challenges of the pandemic to innovate and deliver solutions that equip enterprise customers worldwide to more rapidly advance in the digital economy and secure their own future digital first strategies. Thank you for the outstanding partnership.Karl Strohmeyer, Equinix, Chief Customer and Revenue Officer
New award categories reflect expanded impact of partnership excellence
This year’s categories reflect the continuous evolution of the Equinix channel program, recognizing partners that continuously demonstrate the drive and ability to innovate and develop technologies and programs that end-customer companies can use to future-proof their businesses.
In recognition of the exceptional work our partners performed, we are proud to announce the Global and Regional Equinix Partner Award winners across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific for 2021.
Global Award Winners
Partner of the Year
This partner has consistently delivered value to their customers’ business through the use of Equinix digital infrastructure solutions, where the partner has a proactive strategy and program to establish customer value before opportunities arise.
In 2021, AT&T Business again delivered exceptional year-over-year growth in new end-customer acquisition, expansion of existing shared customers, revenue and leverage of their global alliance channel. AT&T Business’ Equinix growth can be attributed to widespread joint sales and marketing efforts, programmatic sales enablement, continuous relationship-building and steady executive sponsorship. Together, Equinix and AT&T Business have driven digital-first outcomes on complex and transformational projects across multiple industries, including healthcare, financial services, retail and manufacturing for hundreds of customers. These project deployments have been supported by the seamless integration of Equinix Fabric with a range of AT&T Business services. In 2021 our collaboration also emphasized joint sustainability efforts, as demonstrated by the August 2021 announcement of a new collaboration between Equinix and AT&T’s Connected Climate Initiative.
Alliance of the Year
This partner demonstrated excellence, innovation and customer success in applying Equinix technologies to achieve breakthrough solutions through work with us and our clients, as well as our partner community.
As a leading cloud services provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has invested in interconnecting with customers through Equinix to drive more unified consumption of cloud services. Whether companies connect directly to AWS via cloud on-ramps from Platform Equinix or deploy their digital infrastructure in an Equinix IBX® data center and use Equinix Fabric interconnection services to connect to AWS, the partnership between Equinix and AWS makes this happen effortlessly.
As noted earlier, there’s power in numbers when companies work with multiple partners to scale digital infrastructure. This was recently highlighted with the announcement that Equinix is collaborating with Nasdaq in an agreement that supports the build-out of cloud infrastructure in our Carteret, New Jersey data center. Together, Equinix and AWS are helping scores of companies transform existing systems and platforms into a more digital-ready state for their competitive advantage.
Regional Awards
In addition to our global awards, we also recognize top-performing partners across our three regions worldwide.
The regional Partner of the Year awards go to:
- AT&T Business in the Americas
- Zenlayer in Asia-Pacific
- HPE in EMEA
The regional Alliance of the Year awards go to:
- Google in the Americas
- Dell in Asia-Pacific
- Dell in EMEA
Reseller
Partners in this category are recognized for reselling established products and services as evidenced with the largest percent booking growth, registered deals growth record, supporting technical and services certifications and competencies, and demonstrated customer acquisition, retention and growth.
The regional Reseller awards go to:
- WWT in the Americas
- Telstra in Asia-Pacific
Trailblazer
Partners in this category demonstrated excellence in pioneering the use of Equinix products in combination with next-generation technologies including 5G, edge, IoT, blockchain, and AI/ML/cognitive/advanced analytics, with a proven ability to implement greater penetration of a joint value proposition for market verticals.
The regional Trailblazer awards go to:
- Dell in the Americas
- Orange Business Services (OBS) in Asia-Pacific
- Infosys in EMEA
Emerging
Partners in this category are recognized for the breakthrough value delivered to their customers’ business using Equinix digital infrastructure solutions, establishing themselves as an important partner to Equinix now and into the future.
The regional Emerging awards go to:
- HPE in the Americas
- HPE in Asia-Pacific
- InterCloud in EMEA
Social Impact
Partners in this category demonstrated their commitment to protecting, connecting and powering a more sustainable digital world with Equinix technologies.
The regional Social Impact awards go to:
- Verizon in the Americas
- Infosys in Asia-Pacific
- Wipro Technologies in EMEA
Partner Marketing
Partners in this category are recognized for how their commitment to marketing has strengthened the overall partnership by committing resources, creating joint marketing efforts, enabling their internal teams, and driving demand through differentiated marketing tactics to help drive pipeline.
The regional Partner Marketing awards go to:
- HPE in the Americas
- Fujitsu in Asia-Pacific
- BT in EMEA
Agent
The partner in this category demonstrated excellence by expanding into new countries/regions, through services, market and customer growth, facilitating new regional partnerships and providing marketing support to ensure partnership success.
The regional Agent of the Year partner award goes to:
- Americas – Avant
As the world’s digital infrastructure company™, we’re committed to delivering the critical infrastructure digital leaders need to meet aggressive growth targets and thrive in a digital economy; this includes expanding and strengthening our partner ecosystem.
Congratulations to the Equinix Partner Award winners for 2021. Each of these winners were instrumental in helping their customers make the leap to becoming digital-first companies and Equinix is exceptionally proud to partner with them.
Check our Equinix Partner Program Portal and stay tuned to this blog for more exciting partner news.
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