China internet player Tencent has deployed Equinix's Hong Kong data center to enable future expansion into global markets.
Tencent, one of China's largest and most widely used internet service portals, delivers popular internet platforms such as QQ, WeChat, qq.com, Qzone and Tenpay. Its latest service, WeChat, an instant messaging app, has just surpassed over 100 million users outside of China in August 2013.
To expand the availability of its internet services internationally, while delivering high-performance services and applications to its users globally, Tencent deployed Equinix's International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Hong Kong.
This will give Tencent access to Equinix's ecosystem of over 950 network providers globally. It can also select the best fit carrier within the carrier-neutral ecosystem while expanding its service outside of China.
With access to multiple networks, Tencent can peer with members of the Equinix internet Exchange (EIE), and can optimize transit routes to achieve lower latency and deliver improved application performance to end users. On the other hand, Equinix's existing customers can also connect their IT infrastructure directly to Tencent's services.
"With the international demand of Tencent's services, it is critical that it has the necessary connectivity options and infrastructure to support its growth around the world," said Samuel Lee, president, Equinix Asia-Pacific.
"Equinix delivered space and power capacity in a timeframe that meets Tencent's aggressive time table, with options to grow in the future," added Jonathan Chou, vice-president for corporate development, Equinix Asia-Pacific.
"Given Equinix's carrier neutral model, Tencent can now enjoy a wide range of network connectivity options which will help to reduce bandwidth cost as well as to improve network performance, options that do not exist in mainland China."
"The direct benefit [of Equinix's Hong Kong data center deployment] will be improved end user experience with Tencent's wide range of applications to its overseas users. The Tencent servers are geographically closer to the end users with faster, and more resilient network performance, which all translate into better end-to-end applications experience," Chou added.