Equinix Expands Cloud Interconnection and Network Capability in South Korea

HONG KONG – April 29, 2020 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced the availability of Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™) in South Korea. Through this on-demand, software defined networking (SDN)-enabled interconnection service, businesses can directly connect their network to the world’s largest cloud and network service providers, on Platform Equinix®.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT of South Korea, the scale of the country’s cloud market is expected to reach 1.3 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in 2021, up from 500 billion won in 2015.[1] A study from Vanson Bourne, a global technology market research firm, also revealed that 46% of South Korean enterprises are planning to adopt hybrid clouds within 12 to 24 months and the usage rates of hybrid cloud and multicloud will grow by 46% and 11% in 5 years, respectively.[2]

With the availability of ECX Fabric, businesses in South Korea can now leverage the power of Platform Equinix to privately interconnect clouds, networks and services to global data centers at their digital edge. In addition, businesses can access a rich ecosystem of network service providers inside the Equinix SL1 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Seoul to deploy their infrastructure at locations globally that can maximize their investment. Moreover, cross connect, a point-to-point cable link between two customers in the same Equinix IBX data center, offers quick and effective connection to multiple and high-value customers.

Today, ECX Fabric supports connections between 45 markets located across five continents, meeting the ever-growing, on-demand interconnection needs of customers and strengthening Platform Equinix as a global platform for digital business. This further unlocks the power of the world’s largest ecosystems located at Equinix by helping customers gain access to potentially thousands of new global partners they can interconnect with via ECX Fabric.

Highlights/Key Facts:

• The world is digitizing at a rapid pace as major macro, technology and regulatory trends are mandating a business shift to the digital edge. The outbreak of COVID-19 further accelerates the shift, which is outpacing businesses’ ability to digitally transform and compete in an increasingly cloud-first world. A global interconnection platform designed for digital business can accelerate digital transformation efforts by helping enterprises and providers reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything.
• In addition, since the world’s first commercial 5G network launched in South Korea last April, the number of 5G subscribers has surpassed 4.5 million, and the number of base stations has increased by 2.6 times as of January 2020 according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.  The proliferation of 5G increases the demand for interconnection where companies can leverage direct and secure physical and virtual, high-speed, low-latency connections between their edge IT infrastructures, network, cloud, SaaS and security service providers to provide end-to-end visibility and control.
• Currently, there are six network carriers, including DreamLine, Korea Telecom (KT), LG Uplus, Samsung SDS, Sejong Telecom and SK BroadBand, available at SL1, which was opened in August 2019. Businesses can deploy their infrastructure at capital-effective locations, and to cross connect quickly and efficiently to multiple and high-value customers around the world.
• To help customers scale their businesses as rapidly as the digital economy requires, ECX Fabric can be used as a primary connection, or as a complement to a customer’s existing MPLS or Ethernet-based network for data center-to-data center connections by handling backup connections between metros, seasonal spikes in traffic, offloading lower value network traffic, or for short-term projects requiring more bandwidth.
• Through a new self-service portal user interface or API, ECX Fabric also enables customers to streamline their access to the world’s largest cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Google Cloud on Platform Equinix. As Equinix offers direct access to the highest concentration of major cloud provider onramps in the world, ECX Fabric is ideally suited to solve customers’ multicloud network connectivity challenges.
• ECX Fabric is currently available in more than 170 IBX data centers across 45 metros globally, including Seoul, Amsterdam, Atlanta, Barcelona, Boston, Brussels, Canberra, Chicago, Culpeper, Dallas, Denver, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Houston, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Osaka, Paris, Perth, São Paulo, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sofia, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Washington, D.C. and Zurich.
• As of Q4 2019, more than 2,000 customers currently using ECX Fabric, including leading enterprises, cloud and network service providers, have established more than 22,500 active virtual connections to ECX Fabric.

Quotes:

• Max Joo Wan Lee, CEO, Megazone Cloud

“We are pleased to have more flexibility and wider option of interconnecting with different cloud service providers whenever and wherever with the ECX Fabric availability at SL1. Megazone Cloud is looking forward to helping South Korean enterprises meet their global interconnection need with our hybrid multicloud solutions through Platform Equinix.”

• Chris Jang, Country Manager, Equinix South Korea

“With our expanded ECX Fabric availability at SL1, South Korean customers who wish to expand their footprint globally or global companies who plan to do business in South Korea can now privately interconnect to key service providers and across their global digital infrastructure anywhere their business needs to be, at any time. Especially in these challenging times, ECX Fabric will help businesses to reach anyone in the world, on demand, through various connecting options ranging from single private or public to hybrid multicloud connections.”

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about Platform Equinix [website]
• Learn more about ECX Fabric [website]
• ECX Fabric Service Provider Availability [website]

About Equinix

Equinix,Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most-interconnected data centers. On this global platform for digital business, companies come together across more than 50 markets on five continents to reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything they need to create their digital futures. Equinix.hk.

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 services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; 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; 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.