Multicloud and Edge Top IT Leaders’ Priority Lists

Helsinki, Finland – Apr. 15, 2020 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today published the findings of a global survey exploring IT decision-makers’ insights into the biggest technology trends shaping the worldwide economy. The results of the study—which gathered responses from nearly 2,500 participants from 23 countries in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, including 108 participants from Finland—show companies were already preparing for a more connected world, ahead of the dynamically changing environment triggered by COVID-19.

Findings revealed there are significant ambitions by businesses to embrace a multicloud approach, but that adoption is still only at 17% worldwide, 19% in Finland. In addition, one in two IT leaders globally, and 39% in Finland, state they are prioritizing moving their infrastructure to the digital edge—where population centers, commerce, and digital and business ecosystems meet and interact in real time—as part of their organization’s overarching technology strategy.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of IT leaders in Finland said they plan to move more of their IT functions to the cloud. 58% of these plan on doing so within the next 12 months, despite almost a third (31%) of respondents still seeing perceived cybersecurity risks around cloud adoption as posing a threat to their business.

Cloud strategies considered include a dispersed multicloud approach where a single company will use different cloud providers for different functions. This is a major trend emerging in the marketplace and corroborated by the study. 45% of IT leaders globally, and 26% in Finland say their technology strategy includes moving to a multicloud approach, which will have significant implications for the industry as businesses continue to diversify their portfolio of cloud providers. Hybrid cloud deployments—whereby companies use a combination of one or more public cloud providers with a private cloud platform or IT infrastructure—are more commonplace, with 34% of IT decision-makers globally, and 29% in Finland, already having hybrid strategies in place.

To cater to the rapid adoption of hybrid multicloud solutions, Equinix recently announced it has acquired bare metal automation platform leader Packet. Coupled with Equinix’s flagship cloud connectivity platform, Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™), which supports hybrid multicloud strategies by directly, securely and dynamically connecting distributed infrastructure and digital ecosystems globally, the service enables companies to bypass the public internet and make the move to the digital edge—whilst avoiding unnecessary cybersecurity risk.

Implementing an interconnected fabric of network and cloud hubs at the digital edge in this way simplifies the complexity of hybrid IT and provides the choice, scale and agility required for current and future digital business requirements. By providing this critical infrastructure in 55 markets across the world, Equinix is ensuring its customers are better equipped to securely reach everywhere, interconnect everyone and integrate everything that matters to their business.

The IT decision-maker survey was conducted online between 01 and 16 August 2019, alongside the third volume of the annual Global Interconnection Index (GXI), which forecasts that private connectivity at the edge will grow by 51% compound annual growth rate (CAGR)—exceeding a remarkable 13,300+ Tbps by 2022.

Quotes

• Sami Holopainen, Managing Director, Equinix Finland:
  “A worldwide shift towards hybrid multicloud deployments was well underway ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak, with enterprises looking to gain a competitive business advantage through scalable solutions accessible from dispersed locations. The cloud adoption ambitions of IT decision-makers in Finland appear to be lower than the global average, but I’m confident that this development is speeding up. It will be interesting to see how quickly this accelerates given current digital demands.”
• Sami Mattila, Director, DevOps, RELEX Solutions:
  “As a provider of supply chain planning solutions to the retail industry in the U.S. and Europe, connectivity, reliability, and scalability are essential to our business. Our digital edge strategy places strategic control points next to users, and also cloud connectivity plays a major role. As stated in Equinix’s GXI Vol.3, interconnection is a key facilitator for digital transformation worldwide, and for us it is vital for our global expansion.”

About the study
The independent study, commissioned by Equinix, surveyed 2,485 IT decision-makers in 23 countries across the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, U.S.), EMEA (Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, UAE, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, U.K.) and Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore). Respondents were selected for participation from Dynata’s online panel. The survey was conducted online between 1 and 16 August 2019.

Additional resources 
Equinix 2019-20 Tech Trends Survey [report]  
Global Interconnection Index Volume 3 [report]  
IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Colocation & Interconnection Services Report [report]  
Learn more about Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ [website]  
Equinix Completes Acquisition of Bare Metal Leader Packet [press release]

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. www.Equinix.com

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.

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