Equinix has experience helping thousands of customers make the shift to distributed, interconnected digital infrastructure. We help our customers exchange data with their partner ecosystem in a private, dedicated manner using interconnection solutions such as Equinix Fabric™. However, we’ve never stopped researching how to give our customers even more options to meet their interconnection needs. Today, we’re announcing a new service that does just that—with a little help from Mother Nature this time.
Equinix is proud to mark the Halloween season with the announcement of Equinix PumpkinTech, our new pumpkin-inspired interconnection service. Equinix PumpkinTech was built on the principles of biomimicry, which involves taking some of the design principles that show up frequently in the natural world and applying them to help solve some of humanity’s biggest challenges. This isn’t Equinix’s first foray into using biomimicry to support our interconnection services, but we think this time we’re taking things in an exciting new direction.
Equinix is harvesting the future of interconnection
It all started back when Equinix acquired 1,000 acres of land right outside Pumpkintown, Illinois. We planned to use the land to develop Equinix PT1, our newest Equinix IBX® data center in Pumpkintown. However, we also learned that the soil in the area has a reputation for being particularly well-suited for pumpkin cultivation. The business integration opportunities were simply too good for us to pass up.
No one had ever been brave enough to try building a combination data center/pumpkin patch before, which makes PT1 the latest in a long line of Equinix ‘firsts.’ Everything we’re learning about pumpkins through our experiences at PT1 shows that they can be much more than just seasonal decorations or pie filling.”- Jack O’Lantern, Equinix Senior Vice President for Gourd Business Services
The new PT1 has been an unqualified success, ultimately becoming the largest pumpkin patch in the western hemisphere. In addition to providing colocation, interconnection and other digital services to Pumpkintown’s business ecosystem (which is mostly made up of commercial pumpkin farmers), we also set up shop to help meet the world’s almost-insatiable demand for this amazing vegetable (or fruit, depending on who you ask.) We’ve sold pumpkins to locals and tourists alike in just about any form you could imagine: there’s pumpkin pie, pumpkin cider, pumpkin bread, pumpkin candy, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin soup, pumpkin tempura, pumpkin ravioli, and even our world-famous pumpkin shrimp kabobs.
Although we were selling enough pumpkins to keep an Instagram influencer in lattes for years to come, our heart has always remained in the digital infrastructure game. Thus, we started to look for ways to apply our newfound pumpkin knowledge to help customers overcome their interconnection challenges. We studied how pumpkin vines move water and nutrients from the soil into the pumpkins themselves, enabling them to grow extremely quickly. In fact, some pumpkins are able to pack on as much as 50 pounds a day, ultimately reaching weights of up to a ton. We also learned that pumpkins are remarkably hardy crops, with the ability to quickly grow new vines to replace damaged ones. Simply by studying these pumpkin vines in action (and splicing in a little pumpkin DNA to our existing design) we were able to create a new interconnection fabric that moves data with the same efficiency and resiliency we’ve come to know and love from our PT1 pumpkins.
So, this Halloween, stop on down to Pumpkintown to see what we’re brewing up. You may just be seeing the future of digital infrastructure right there on the vines.
Happy Halloween from Equinix!
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