IDC MarketScape Names Equinix a Data Center Colocation and Interconnection Services Leader in Canada

Canadian organizations continue to accelerate their digital transformation strategies to compete in Canada and on the world stage, with 43% of Canadian IT decision-makers saying that they intend to increase investment in interconnection services, as reported in the 2022 Equinix Global Tech Trends Survey (GTTS). But planning for digital transformation requires the right combination of digital infrastructure, and that includes data center colocation and interconnection services.

As the world’s digital infrastructure company™, Equinix empowers businesses to achieve their goals by offering innovative and sustainable solutions to compete today and prepare for tomorrow, and that’s why we’re so proud to have been named a leader in the IDC MarketScape Report for Canadian Datacenter Colocation and Interconnection Services 2022 Vendor Assessment.[1] It’s the first time this report has been published since we acquired 13 data centers from Bell Canada just over two years ago. With our expansion across Canada and rollout of digital infrastructure services, Equinix has been recognized for its national and global reach and its innovative service offerings and strategy.

Market trends require key provider capabilities and strategies

This 2022 IDC MarketSpace Report looks at trends that are driving increased usage of colocation and interconnection services and identifies the service providers that are leaders in this market based on two primary criteria: capabilities and strategies.

IDC November 2022, #CA49811122: 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. IDC MarketScape and MarketScape graphic are protected by copyright IDC 2022

IDC identified three main trends driving the adoption of colocation and interconnection services by businesses across Canada:

• Legacy data centers located on-premises or run by third parties simply don’t have the level of modernization necessary to support digital initiatives.
• The same can be said for retail data center providers. There’s only a short list of vendors out of many that can provide the range of service capabilities and level of data center quality required by enterprises.
• Third-party data centers are quickly becoming the core of hybrid multicloud environments, thanks to their always-on and compliant infrastructure.

Demonstrating distinct strengths as a market leader

As part of the research and analysis for the report, IDC recognized Equinix for the following strengths:

• Global and national reach: By creating a digital infrastructure platform that extends across Canada, Equinix can help enterprises quickly expand to new regions or cities within Canada or to other countries. Conversely, global companies can also establish a presence in Canada.
• Innovative offerings: With continued investments to ensure our acquired data centers meet global standards, Equinix is extending our global digital, edge, interconnection, and data center operation services to Canadian organizations. Our digital infrastructure services portfolio includes Equinix Fabric® for software-defined interconnection, Equinix Metal® Bare Metal as a Service for single-tenant compute and storage capabilities, Network Edge virtual network function devices for network modernization and Equinix Precision Time® for precise and secure Time as a Service.
• Sustainability: Our sustainability policies include 100% renewable energy coverage in Canada, setting clear ESG goals, and issuing about $4.9 billion in green bonds to help finance sustainability projects. We were the first company in the data center industry to commit to reaching climate-neutrality by 2030, including emissions reduction across our global operations and supply chain.

Here’s one example of how important global reach was for several large Canadian enterprises. Before Equinix expanded into Canada, these companies established large footprints globally by deploying digital infrastructure in Equinix IBX® data centers in other countries. These large enterprises are now enriching their national footprint with Equinix across Canada.

We’ve seen this reciprocal approach taken by enterprises across the Americas as they distribute digital infrastructure in Equinix IBX data centers outside their country until they can do so locally.

Equinix is helping organizations accelerate their digital business transformation and address their digital infrastructure needs. According to the IDC report, companies should consider Equinix when looking to distribute low-latency workloads across Canada and globally, using an interconnected, ecosystem-based digital platform.

Advancing our vision for Canada with ongoing investments

As the second-largest country in the world in terms of landmass, Canada has the fourth-lowest population density. While 90% of residents live within 100 miles of the U.S. border, Canada is investing heavily in improving connectivity to northern metros and rural communities with various initiatives such as:

• Canada’s Connectivity Strategy, which aims to provide all Canadians access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload.[2]
• The Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), a $2.75 billion investment by the Government of Canada designed to help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030. Only the hardest-to-reach households may take until 2030 to get connected.[3]

Equinix is also committed to progressing connectivity across Canada. “Equinix’s global strategy to create a digital infrastructure platform is ahead of the needs of many Canadian organizations and will enable its customers to compete in the post-COVID-19 digital business era,” according to the IDC MarketScape Report. Within our first year following the acquisition, we launched seven unique construction projects to enhance and increase existing capacity for our customers. At our Q2 2022 earnings call, Equinix announced an $84 million investment in a multi-year expansion of its existing Canadian data centers.

Why expand now? Businesses are increasingly moving to a virtualized, multicloud approach to reduce costs, mitigate risk and overcome hardware supply issues. According to the GTTS, the majority of Canadian IT decision-makers (52%) report that they’re pursuing more aggressive IT strategies and that they’re further along in their digital transformation journeys as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking these steps forward unlocks new entry points for multinational companies looking to expand into North America.

Learn more about how Equinix and other colocation and interconnection service providers are supporting digital transformation across Canada in the IDC MarketScape – Canadian Datacenter Colocation and Interconnection Services 2022 Vendor Assessment.

[1] Jason Bremner,“IDC MarketScape – Canadian Datacenter Colocation and Interconnection Services 2022 Vendor Assessment,” IDC, Doc # CA49811122, November 2022.

[2] Canada’s Connectivity Strategy, Government of Canada

[3] Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), Government of Canada