Equinix, Inc. announced an expansion of its collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the extension of direct, private connectivity to the AWS Direct Connect service to four additional Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in North America and Europe. The move advances the Equinix and AWS collaboration that enables businesses to connect their owned and managed infrastructure directly to AWS via a private connection, which helps customers reduce costs, improve performance and achieve a more consistent network experience.

"When businesses compete at the digital edge, proximity matters. To be successful, enterprises require superior interconnection. Together, Equinix and AWS are catalysts and enablers of this new digital and interconnected world. By offering AWS Direct Connect in our data centers across the globe, we are helping our customers solve their business challenges, drive better outcomes, and simplify their journey to the public cloud," said Kaushik Joshi, global managing director, Strategic Alliances at Equinix.

Effective immediately, AWS Direct Connect will be available to customers in Equinix IBX data centers in Helsinki, Madrid, Manchester, and Toronto, bringing the total number of Equinix metros offering AWS Direct Connect to 21, globally. Customers can connect to AWS Direct Connect at all available speeds via Equinix Cloud Exchange™ (ECX), cross connects or Equinix-provided metro connectivity options. Additionally, with the recently announced AWS Direct Connect Gateway, Equinix customers can also access multiple AWS regions with a single connection to AWS Direct Connect.

In addition to the four new markets announced today, Equinix offers AWS Direct Connect in the Amsterdam, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, London, Munich, New York, Osaka, São Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Warsaw, and Washington, D.C. metro areas.

Direct connection to AWS inside Equinix IBX data centers is ideal for specific enterprise use cases, such as:

  • Securing and accelerating data flows: Applications such as business intelligence, pattern recognition and data visualization require heavy compute and low-latency connectivity to large data sets. Equinix Data Hub™ and Cloud Exchange can help enterprises control data movement and placement by enabling private, secure and fast connectivity between private data storage devices and AWS compute nodes, maintaining data residency and accelerating access between storage and compute resources.

  • Interconnecting to hybrid cloud and business ecosystems: Direct connection to AWS via the Equinix Cloud Exchange offers enterprises access to networks, IaaS, PaaS and SaaS providers and connectivity to thousands of other business ecosystems.

  • Direct and private connectivity to strategic cloud providers that avoids the public internet is a growing business practice for leading companies. According to the Global Interconnection Index, a market study published recently by Equinix, the capacity for private data exchange between enterprises and cloud providers is forecast to grow at 160% CAGR between now and 2020.