Equinix, Inc. has announced the opening of its International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Osaka, called OS1 — its first in the western region of Japan. The OS1 data center was opened in partnership with K-Opticom, one of the largest access providers in the Osaka/Kansai area, and Kanden Energy Solutions (KENES) with support from O-BIC, an Osaka government agency that supports foreign-owned companies establishing businesses in the region. With the opening of Equinix’s carrier-neutral data center, global companies can easily expand their businesses to Osaka, the second largest market in Japan.

“The opening of our first data center in Osaka with the support of K-Opticom, KENES and O-BIC allows our customers around the globe with a diversity of networks and connectivity options in Osaka, driving synergies with our Tokyo operations. With the two key hubs in Japan, cloud, content and network providers, as well as financial services firms, can access the broadest choice of networks in the region, enabling them to rapidly and cost effectively expand their business, while better serving their international customers,” said Kei Furuta, managing director of Equinix, Japan.

Osaka is located at the center of Kansai, the second largest region in Japan with a GDP of US$916 billion, a size comparable to South Korea’s economy. Its central location, together with the strength of its economy, make Osaka the ideal second metro to support Equinix’s existing Tokyo operations. Equinix’s Japanese data centers will provide customers with access to a diversity of networks and geographies, utilizing the close proximity between Osaka and Tokyo. The first phase of OS1 will offer an initial 320 cabinets, expanding to over 800 in 2014.

As a carrier-neutral data center, OS1 will provide multinational telecommunications companies the ability to interconnect with multiple local network services through K-Opticom. Customers inside OS1 will have access to more than 950 domestic and international carriers, establishing Osaka as a global network hub by directly connecting to Dojima, the network core in Osaka.

As the backbone of the digital economy, Platform Equinix™ is used by more than 4,400 customers worldwide and serves as an interconnection hub to help companies grow their businesses. With Platform Equinix, customers in the data center can interconnect with a large Marketplace of existing and potential customers for revenue generating opportunities, and connect their IT infrastructures directly to partners’ services. Additionally, through the Equinix Internet Exchange (EIE), customers can select and peer with a wide range of network providers, optimizing transit routes and helping decrease latency to significantly improve performance.

Given the prevalence of earthquakes in Japan, OS1 has preventative measures in place in case of power supply issues or floods. With power systems that have built-in redundancy and backup generator systems in the event of a local utility failure, the structure is built to sustain potential environmental disasters. OS1 is also built with the most sophisticated seismic resistant system, handling maximum movement in response to anticipated large earthquake motions.

KENES, a utility service company for data centers, provides technology, management and maintenance for OS1, enabling Equinix to exceed building and operating standards and provide a state of the art, global data center in Osaka.