Equinix, Inc. has announced the grand opening of its third International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center, known as SG3, in Singapore. The company's flagship data center is the largest in Asia-Pacific and demonstrates Equinix's ongoing commitment to the growing market demand for premium data center services from financial and cloud companies in the region.

Equinix additionally announced that Orange Carriers Singapore, a 100% subsidiary of Orange Group, global communications solutions provider, and Datapipe, a global leader in managed hybrid IT solutions for the enterprise, have chosen to deploy in SG3 as part of their global expansion.

Earlier this month Equinix announced that it will open five new data centers on four continents in the coming weeks to create more capacity for global companies to connect to their partners, customers and employees. By providing this increased capacity, Equinix expands its role in advancing the digital economy's interconnected era, in which businesses are demanding increasing levels of interconnection to accelerate business performance.

With growing demand for interconnected data center facilities and managed services from the enterprise, financial services, network operators, cloud and IT sectors, Singapore is a key regional hub and a desired location for cloud service providers and major multinational enterprises.

The opening of SG3 will further extend Platform Equinix™ to meet strong demand for premium interconnection and data center services in Singapore and the region. This expansion is in line with the steady growth of the company's leading global interconnection platform, in which Equinix has invested more than $7.5 billion over the last 16 years.

SG3 is Equinix's largest data center facility in Asia-Pacific that was developed by Mapletree Industrial Trust ("MIT"). It is a purpose-built facility with gross floor area of approximately 385,000 sq ft, which can accommodate approximately 5,000 cabinets at full build, 1,000 of which will be available in the first phase.

By deploying in SG3, Orange Carriers Singapore and Datapipe can connect to Equinix's network-dense ecosystem of more than 1,000 networks globally, over 190 of which are directly accessible in Singapore. This provides customers with access to a large marketplace of over 4,800 potential customers and partners across more than 100 data centers worldwide, generating revenue opportunities and reducing time-to-market.

The new IBX data center offers new paths in and out of the world's largest financial centers, enabling collaboration, innovation and business acceleration opportunities. Together, Equinix's data centers collectively provide customers with a wide reach into additional markets and the ability to rapidly scale to meet expanding business needs.

With an initial investment of $53M, the opening of SG3 follows swiftly the sixth phase of Equinix's second Singapore IBX data center, which now provides an additional 700 cabinets, and brings the total investment in Singapore to date to well over $300M.

With three data center facilities located in close proximity, Equinix ensures high-performance, network reliability, redundancy, and low-latency. SG3 and SG1 data centers will be interconnected through a dedicated fiber network, allowing customers in SG1 to expand their business within the Equinix platform. Direct tethering to SG1, which is the country's most network-dense data center, enables customers in SG3 to interconnect with low latency, as if they were in the same location.

Recognizing financial customers' need for network-rich infrastructure with robust security, scalable, low-cost and low-latency connectivity, SG3 was specifically designed to meet the stringent safety and data security guidelines of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

In addition, cloud and IT service providers account for a quarter of Equinix's business and is the fastest growing segment for the company. By housing IT infrastructure in SG3, the only carrier-neutral facility in Singapore, businesses are able to expand their cloud and data capabilities rapidly as data consumption and content volume continue to increase.

As the Singapore government continues to raise the bar in data center quality through eco-friendly initiatives, Equinix has also pledged itself to adopt sustainable technologies. In an effort to minimize energy consumption, SG3 was designed with the aim of operating as energy-efficiently as possible. In addition to green features such as motion-activated LED lights, a solar power system will also be implemented – a feature unique to SG3.

For its exemplary green initiatives, SG3 was recently presented the Platinum Award under the Building and Construction Authority – Infocomm Development Authority ("BCA-IDA") Green Mark scheme for Data Centers. The scheme assesses data centers in Singapore based on five key criteria – energy efficiency, water efficiency, sustainable construction and management, and indoor environment quality, as well as other green features.