Equinix, Inc. has introduced the Equinix Performance Hub™, a new solution that combines elements of data centers, networking infrastructure and connectivity, and cloud computing access to improve application performance and deliver a globally consistent quality of experience to endusers. The Performance Hub serves as an extension of the private enterprise network into an Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center, enabling enterprises to securely and reliably connect to network and cloud service providers using their own infrastructure or off-the-shelf equipment supplied as part of a bundled offer. Global enterprises such as Chevron, eBay, and Nvidia have already elected to deploy Performance Hub architectures in Equinix data centers around the world.

"We are increasingly hearing from enterprises that they are struggling to deal with the strain on application and network performance and how to provide a consistent quality of experience to their distributed workforce. The Equinix Performance Hub combines the strength of the networks and the cloud to address these issues. By redefining their data center strategy to include Performance Hubs located closer to end users, enterprises can strategically leverage their data center to maximize network performance," said Sara Baack, chief marketing officer, Equinix.

Global cloud traffic is forecast to grow 4.5x between now and 2017, to 7.7 zettabytes a year, according to Cisco[1]. The combined forces of globalization and the reliance on collaborative, business-critical applications are causing significant demand on enterprise networks and IT architectures. As a result, these businesses need a robust, secure and distributed network to meet the performance needs of a dispersed user base.

Equinix developed the Performance Hub to address the needs of enterprises struggling to maintain the highest level of network performance and quality of service for global users. Performance Hub deployments include:

  • Equinix IBX data center hosting  ?  Cabinets, power, and cross connects
  • Network connectivity  ?  Metro-Ethernet, long-haul (MPLS-VPN), ISP
  • Network equipment   ?  Routing, switching, firewalls, SSL-VPN, load-balancers, WAN-acceleration
  • Cloud connectivity  ?  Private, high-bandwidth connectivity to leading public clouds such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Windows Azure and many others

According to Gartner[2], "Given the network density/choice that exists in many of these locations, enterprises can improve overall networking performance by extending a WAN into a carrier-neutral location, which can enable network aggregation, cost take-out and ability to connect to other cloud providers for hybrid IT/cloud."

Performance Hub solution benchmarking has shown significant improvement in performance across metro (coast-to-coast) scenarios including:

  • Fifty percent improvement in http-load tests for web-based applications
  • Greater than 40% improvement on file transfers for Microsoft Sharepoint®
  • Forty percent improvement on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) launch times
  • Reduced jitter and latency for video streaming applications

For applications hosted on public cloud infrastructure, benchmarking showed:

  • Thirty percent improvement in page-load tests for web-based applications, if consumed via Equinix Performance Hub with direct connectivity to public cloud infrastructure vs. Internet connectivity
  • One hundred times improvement in data transfers for data-replication applications such as Oracle® Data Guard
  • Ideal users of the Equinix Performance Hub are large, distributed companies who want to:
  • Transform their WAN to improve performance while reducing costs and benefit from the wide choice of available carriers
  • Improve performance of collaborative, real-time business applications such as VDI, Microsoft SharePoint®, and WebEx®, where information is being shared across a distributed employee or enduser population
  • Explore options to simplify their network and obtain private and secure connectivity between the public cloud and owned infrastructure, including enabling hybrid cloud deployments
  • Renegotiate their WAN service provider agreements to leverage network choice