Equinix this week unveiled plans to expand and directly interconnect its cloud exchanges around the world. It's a move that seems to take the company further into the realm of network operators than ever before.
The plan is to add direct physical and virtual connectivity between its International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers, and make those links available through the Equinix Cloud Exchange, which will now be called the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric.
Powered by SDN technology, that fabric will enable ECX customers to dynamically connect to the infrastructure of any other customer, regardless of which facility either is located.
To make all this happen, Equinix is adding breadth to its interconnection infrastructure generally. The ECX Fabric will be rolled out to Denver and Miami in the US and Dusseldorf, Geneva, Helsinki, Milan, and Munich in Europe. Meanwhile, the Equinix Internet Exchange will also see an expansion, adding nine new metro areas: Amsterdam, Denver, Dublin, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Manchester, Milan and Stockholm.
Overall, what this seems to mean is that Equinix is moving beyond merely facilitating connectivity to and from clouds, carving out a bigger slice of territory in the world of private interconnection that has been the domain of managed network operators. If they are successful at it, I wonder if it will take them further down the stack toward the fiber level at some point.
This article was authored by Rob Powell and was originally posted on Telecomramblings.com
Rob Powell is founder & editor of Telecom Ramblings, which was set up in 2008. The website is dedicated to discussing trends and developments in the telecom industry.