Equinix, Inc. has announced that it will open a new International Business Exchange (IBX®) data center in Dallas later this year. The new IBX, called DA7, will support growing demand for interconnection in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area, one of Equinix's most network-dense locations.

Equinix will invest approximately $20 million in the DA7 facility, which includes an intial phase of 300 cabinets with 800 additional cabinets expected by Q2 2016. At full build the site will have approximately 40,000 sq ft of total colocation space and Equinix's total Dallas footprint will exceed 214,000 square feet of colocation space across six data centers.

"We have seen tremendous growth in the Dallas market and DA7 will give businesses increased flexibility to support their ever-changing IT needs. This includes businesses who need greater flexibility due to business drivers such as the Internet of Things and big data," said Karl Strohmeyer, president, Americas, Equinix.

Four of Equinix's existing five Dallas data centers are located within the Dallas Infomart, a 1.6 M-sq-ft building with multiple diverse fiber entry points into the building. With close proximity to the Infomart, DA7 will offer connectivity to 275+ customers including leading network and cloud service providers, as well as the Equinix Cloud Exchange™.

A Fortune 100 global manufacturing company has committed to 200 cabinets or almost 1 MW of the initial phase of DA7 to support connectivity to Microsoft Azure via the Equinix Cloud Exchange. This deployment enables the customer to meet its changing IT needs by driving innovation in the cloud.

According to a recent report by industry analyst firm Forrester titled, "The Total Economic Impact™ of Equinix Interconnection Solutions," organizations are able to reduce data center space requirements and avoid future data center investments by pursuing a cloud strategy with Equinix. The report also states that high-speed connectivity and secure connections to cloud and network service providers near large user bases generates millions in incremental revenue by enabling new product opportunities.

"To compete in the age of the customer, I&O organizations need to break away from the traditional mindset of defaulting to a location that is convenient to their workforce and instead consider locations that will deliver the best service to their customers. Selecting a new data center site has thus evolved from a tactical to strategic decision,"¹ said Sophia Vargas, infrastructure & operations analyst, Forrester Research. 

Equinix's Dallas data centers house over 100 network service providers — more than any other data center providers or buildings in the Dallas metro area — providing network choice and connectivity for 40+ cloud service providers and 30 content and digital media companies including Adobe, AOL, AT&T, China Telecom, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Cox Communications, Level 3 Communications, Sprint, Tata, TeliaSonera, Telefonica, Time Warner Cable, Walmart, XO Communications, and Zayo.