Equinix, Inc. has announced that it has signed an agreement with Aliyun, Alibaba Group Holding Limited's cloud computing arm, to provide direct access to Aliyun's cloud platform via the Equinix Cloud Exchange in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley. The collaboration provides multinational, Chinese, and North American enterprises with dedicated and secure access to the full suite of Aliyun's cloud services.
"Our multi-national enterprise customers are increasingly asking for access to the Aliyun cloud platform, as they deploy cloud-based applications across Asia. By providing this access in two strategic markets, we're empowering businesses to build secure, private clouds, without compromising network and application performance," said Chris Sharp, vice president, cloud innovation, Equinix.
As multi-national enterprise customers look to expand their cloud-based applications across Asia, it is imperative they are able do so in a secure, direct manner, without compromising network and application performance. Together, Equinix and Aliyun will enable enterprises in Asia and North America to build public and hybrid cloud solutions using the cloud capabilities of Aliyun combined with the interconnection solutions from Equinix, in a direct, secure and high-performing manner.
Access to Aliyun's cloud services will initially be available in Equinix's International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley, with future expansion planned to additional IBX data centers across North America and Asia.
"Aliyun is very excited about our global partnership with Equinix, who not only has a global footprint of cutting-edge data centers, but has also brought together the most abundant cloud players and tenants in the cloud computing ecosystem on its Equinix Cloud Exchange platform. Connecting the Equinix ecosystem with our Aliyun cloud services on Cloud Exchange will provide customers with the best-of-breed choices and flexibility," said Sicheng Yu, vice president, Aliyun.
In addition to the Aliyun cloud platform, Equinix will also offer direct access to additional cloud-based services from Aliyun, including SaaS-based applications.
The cloud market in Asia Pacific is growing rapidly. In fact, according to Cisco's Cloud Survey, by 2018, the region will generate the most cloud traffic (2.3 zettabytes annually), the equivalent to 38 percent CAGR (2013-17). By providing direct access to Aliyun's suite of cloud services, Equinix and Aliyun will help speed cloud adoption in the Asia Pacific region and further fuel this growth.
With more than 1.4 million customers directly and indirectly through ISVs, Aliyun is the largest public cloud service provider in China and operates the country's largest content delivery network. According to IDC, Aliyun maintains 22.8 percent of the IaaS market in China, and the company is embarking on an international expansion to serve customers around the world.
With more than 100 data centers across 33 markets around the world, Equinix provides cloud service providers such as Aliyun with an ideal platform to scale their offerings around the world to support growing customer demand. The Equinix Cloud Exchange is currently available in 21 markets globally including – Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Osaka, Paris, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.
