Equinix, Inc. has announced the immediate availability of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect cloud service in its Munich International Business Exchange (IBX®) data centers. With AWS Direct Connect, companies can connect their customer-owned and managed infrastructure directly to AWS, establishing a private connection to the cloud that can reduce costs, increase performance, and deliver a more consistent network experience. The Munich data center is Equinix's second location in Germany to offer AWS Direct Connect. The company announced availability in Frankfurt in 2014. Munich brings the total number of Equinix metros offering the Direct Connect service to 14, globally.
"We are thrilled to be adding another AWS Direct Connect site in our European footprint of data centers. It has always been our goal to help enterprises realize the full benefits of the cloud, while alleviating concerns of application latency or data privacy. By providing access to AWS via the Direct Connect service, we are empowering our customers to achieve improved performance of cloud-based applications," said Eric Schwartz, president, EMEA, Equinix.
Cloud computing continues to grow at a steady pace across Europe. In fact, IDC predicts that the EMEA public cloud market will expand 26% over the next four years. Germany remains the second-largest cloud-consuming territory, and it has the highest growth rate (23.8% CAGR) among the major territories. According to IDC, basing on current trends, Germany could be the largest buyer of public cloud services by 2026*. Yet, one of the top CIO concerns in moving to the cloud continues to be compliance with German and European data protection laws. By expanding AWS Direct Connect within Germany, Equinix, and Amazon are enabling enterprise CIOs to advance their hybrid cloud strategies by seamlessly and safely incorporating public cloud services into their existing architectures.
Equinix's Munich campus consists of two data centers comprised of 6,500 square meters (70,000 sq ft) of colocation space. Together, the Munich data centers are business hubs for more than 70 companies. Equinix Munich customers can choose from a broad range of network services from more than 30 network providers. They can also interconnect to customers and partners in their digital supply chain. By adding AWS Direct Connect to these facilities, Equinix is providing customers with an ideal location for them to host cloud services and help address any data privacy or data sovereignty issues.
Equinix Munich data centers have prime locations in one of Germany's most important banking and insurance industry hubs. The region is also home to thriving automotive, Internet, digital media and electronics industries. Companies in these sectors rely on Equinix's Munich colocation facilities and interconnection services to make highly reliable, low-latency connections with business partners and customers locally, nationally and internationally.
* Source: IDC, "Western Europe Public Cloud Services Forecast, 2016–2020" (Doc #EMEA41308316 / Jun 7, 2016)