Equinix Collaborates with SML to Help Retailer Brands Solve Supply Chain Challenges

HONG KONG, February 23, 2022 – With COVID-19 creating a massive upheaval in global supply chains, retailers have been under tremendous pressure to manage inventory for omnichannel commerce, which makes accurate and real-time visibility of every step in the supply chain critical to business success. To facilitate retailers’ supply chain management, Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company™, today announced that it has collaborated with SML, a worldwide leader in digital identification technology and solutions provider, to empower brands to achieve efficient supply chain and inventory management, and unlock transparency across the item-level product lifecycle.

As technology advances and customer expectations heighten, the retail industry is forced to rethink their inventory management strategy. According to the SML, 43% of retailers believe enhanced stock visibility will help them stay competitive.¹ By combining SML’s digital identification capabilities with the direct and secure connections that Equinix provides globally, retailers can leverage a robust and future-proof digital infrastructure to achieve inventory accuracy, realize global consistency and unlock data-driven value across the product lifecycle.

“As part of our digital transformation journey, working with Equinix gave us the confidence and trust in security and performance when it comes to connectivity, so we can focus on delivering our innovative item-level RFID and brand identification solutions to the market, and drive greater value for our customers,” remarked Eddie Wong, Senior Vice President, Global IT, SML Group. “Looking forward, we are excited to continue to partner with Equinix and expand our solutions to border locations and improve agility with hybrid cloud connectivity. We are also looking forward to utilizing the Equinix ecosystem to speed up the deployment of SML services and solutions globally to business partners.”

Utilizing Platform Equinix^®, SML creates direct, real-time, and on-demand multicloud connectivity to its 30+ locations worldwide to power over 600 retail brands. With Equinix Connect and Equinix Fabric^TM, SML now can accelerate the delivery and consumption of SML’s technology-driven solutions at scale and further empowers its retail partners for digital innovations in the new era of retailing.

Commenting on the future of the industry and Equinix’s collaboration with SML, Larry Tam, Managing Director, Equinix Hong Kong said “Stepping into 2022, global retailers and industry solution providers continue to evolve to thrive in the competitive environment. This makes a future-ready digital infrastructure increasingly important to help industry players stay ahead of the market and pivot quickly when customers need change. Equinix is thrilled to support SML in creating their digital infrastructure with our wide range of solutions ranging from colocation, interconnection to edge services. With our global footprint, we will keep supporting SML’s globally expanding story and enabling it to connect with new partners and unlock new business in the future.”

Highlights / Key Facts:

• Headquartered in Hong Kong, SML Group is a global end-to-end RFID and brand identification solutions provider, delivering proven results and rapid investment returns to brands in the new era of retailing. SML offers innovative Inspire™ and EcoInspire™ labeling and packaging products, high-performance RFID tags and encoding services across industries. Their proprietary software Clarity^® is the only item-level RFID solution engineered and deployment-proven for vertical retailers and brand owners with stores. SML is committed to developing tech-driven solutions that power brand transformation and prosperity.
   
• Before Equinix deployment, SML faced various challenges in their global expansion journey, including limited infrastructure to support their expansion. Equinix was able to support SML to overcome these challenges through global connectivity opportunities that were flexible and adaptable to suit SML's needs, all accessible through Platform Equinix. To continue bringing value to their customers, SML was able to utilize the Equinix IBX data center in Hong Kong to create secure and low-latency connections to improve solution performance.
   
• SML also leverages Equinix Fabric to quickly and easily interconnect physical and virtual digital infrastructure globally. Equinix Fabric is a software-defined interconnection service that allows businesses to connect between its own distributed infrastructure and any other company’s infrastructure via Platform Equinix. In just minutes, Equinix Fabric customers can directly connect to major cloud providers including Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud. Supported by Equinix, SML securely connected to Azure Dynamic 365 and simplified its hybrid cloud networking with flexible, scalable links to and between cloud providers in multiple locations.
   
• Network Edge will enable SML to deploy virtual networking services in real-time from multiple vendors. With the Equinix Fabric integration, SML can also interconnect their virtual edge devices with cloud and network providers located in distributed global markets, extending its reach to thousands of potential new business partners around the world. 
   
• SML and Equinix share the same vision and commitment towards sustainability and environmental responsibility. To date, SML targets to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 equivalent for 3% each year accumulative from 2018². SML has also successfully achieved 80% landfill-free waste and 80% chemical conformance. Equinix has committed to reaching climate-neutral by 2030, back by science-based targets and in line with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Scope 2 Market-based Guidance, Equinix emissions since 2015 have fallen 50% on an absolute mtCO2e basis³.
   
• According to the Global Interconnection Index Volume 5 (GXI Vol. 5), a market study published by Equinix, the Wholesale & Retail Trade interconnection bandwidth is forecasted at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46% globally. As the industry continues to grow, Equinix is prepared to support companies in the industry transform their digital infrastructures to become agile, flexible and robust.

Additional Resources

• Global Interconnection Index Volume 5 [report]
• Equinix Hong Kong Data Centers [website]
• Equinix Fabric [website]
• Equinix’s Colocation Services and Solutions [website]
• Platform Equinix [website]

About Equinix
Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world’s digital infrastructure company, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions, unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; a failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

Media Contact (Asia-Pacific)
Equinix
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