Equinix, Inc. has announced it will bring the Equinix Internet Exchange™ to Helsinki, Finland, launching in Q1 2017.

Equinix's global interconnection platform — Platform Equinix™ — is comprised of more than 145 data centers and provides the leading public Internet exchange fabric in the world. Today, the Equinix Internet Exchange handles 5.6 terabits of peak traffic growing at over 35% per year, at 22 Internet Exchange Point (IXP) locations in 19 markets across APAC, North America and Europe where more than 1,300 networks, cloud and content providers peer worldwide. This service lowers overall IP transit costs and delivers enhanced end-to-end network performance, speed and reliability. By providing this additional connectivity, Equinix continues to play a central role in advancing the digital economy's interconnected era, in which businesses are demanding increasing levels of interconnection to accelerate business performance.

"The growth and rapid evolution of the digital economy demands ever-increasing levels of network performance and capacity. Equinix will help address this challenge by opening the Equinix Internet Exchange in Helsinki, which will build on the success we've had developing Internet Exchanges in Zurich and Paris. This, combined with the power of Platform Equinix, will enable businesses in Finland to meet their global digital transformation objectives and optimize digital relationships," said Eric Schwartz, president EMEA, Equinix.

Global Internet traffic is increasing at a compound annual rate of more than 33% between 2012 and 20161 and IP traffic will continue to grow at 22% per year over the next three years, increasing almost three-fold in the period 2015-20202. According to the 451 Research report, Interconnection 101, "to deal with the large amount of Internet traffic and keep up with the significant growth, networks are peering with a greater number of interconnections at any specific location, and they are interconnecting in more locations."

In addition to housing this public peering fabric, Equinix's carrier-neutral global data centers are the chosen home for the world's leading network service providers, content and digital media companies, enterprises, financial firms, and cloud computing platforms to privately peer in its exchange points around the world. By bringing the Equinix Internet Exchange with 2.4Tbps of capacity to Finland, companies that are located in the Nordics will be able to more easily consume or sell their services seamlessly to the rest of Europe and abroad.  

Equinix currently operates six data centers in Finland, all in the Helsinki metropolitan area, which offer campus and metro-wide connectivity, providing customers with the full range of interconnection options ― buying transit from an ISP, using Equinix Internet Exchange for public peering, or peering privately over cross connects ― all without having to move equipment or changing data center facilities. Customers can take advantage of cost savings and performance improvements by migrating large public peering partners to private network interconnection with the Equinix campus cross-connect system.

Equinix's Helsinki data centers are also facilitating Internet connectivity growth locally by anchoring the new Cinia submarine cable system, C-Lion1, between Finland and Germany, providing a bridge between Russia, the Baltic countries, and network nodes in Central Europe. With a record-breaking capacity of 144 Tbps and round trip rate of less than 20 milliseconds between Helsinki and Frankfurt, Equinix customers will be able to take advantage of enhanced international capacity, network latency and performance, as well as Finland's climatic and competitive power pricing benefits.