LONDON, UK, 30 September 2020 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company, today announced it is supporting cloud gaming company Loudplay’s global expansion to new markets in collaboration with its channel partner AirSpeed. Loudplay is leveraging Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric® (ECX Fabric®) to provide industry-leading performance, security and reliability for cloud gamers, aiming to reach 500,000 users by year-end 2021.
Founded in 2015, with its global headquarters located in Dublin, Ireland, Loudplay originated as a cloud gaming portal. However, in conjunction with Equinix and AirSpeed, Loudplay has evolved its platform to provide an extended business-to-consumer (B2C) offering, as well as a business-to-business (B2B) service.
Now, the Loudplay platform can be used to access resource demanding consumer applications—such as Adobe Creative Cloud, VR applications and software for students with engineering, design and architecture specialties—as well as GPU-intensive business applications, like computer aided design or manufacturing, 3D modelling and heavy industrial software solutions.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Loudplay has seen a more than 110% increase in users on its platform. Through Equinix’s partnership with AirSpeed, Loudplay is now using ECX Fabric to expand further across EMEA and Asia, with plans to increase its user base from 200,000 users to 500,000 by year-end 2021, by enabling—through its cloud platform—high-end PC gaming on any device.
Highlights/Key Facts
- ECX Fabric allows Loudplay to connect directly and securely to business-critical partners, including cloud service providers. Without the need for building or renting expensive traditional IT infrastructure, the multicloud platform enables Loudplay to roll out its platform to new markets, while reducing the physical distance between the gaming platform and users—mitigating latency and therefore improving the gaming experience.
- Having the capability to scale as needed is essential to handle spikes in traffic, such as those seen by organisations during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as those brought by in-game events and new product releases. With ECX Fabric, the Loudplay platform is capable of scaling from 10,000 users to as many as 2, 5, 10 or 20 million users.
- Following the recent expansion of ECX Fabric to seven new EMEA markets, the interconnection service is now available in 45+ locations across five continents, supporting businesses with multinational expansion plans by enabling affordable, scalable and agile connectivity across geographies.
- Earlier this year, Equinix announced a new partnership with Irish telecommunications service provider, AirSpeed Telecom, to offer businesses across Ireland fast, secure and reliable connectivity to streamline cloud migration and increase business performance. AirSpeed provides ECX Fabric to its customers as ‘AirSpeed Cloud Connectivity’.
- Using ECX Fabric, AirSpeed Cloud Connectivity enables enterprises to make significant cost savings and enhance productivity by eliminating the costly overheads associated with traditional IT infrastructure. It also offers organisations a selection of bandwidths to support their business needs—ensuring they only pay for what they need.
- Equinix’s third annual Global Interconnection Index (GXI) shows the need to connect to multiple clouds and IT services represents the fastest-growing use of interconnection bandwidth—the capacity required for businesses to privately connect to clouds, enterprises and networks. Indeed, it is predicted to grow at a 112% CAGR by 2022.
- The rise of cloud is driving growth in the channel, and this will only increase. Equinix’s 2019-20 Global Tech Trends Survey showed more than two-thirds (71%) of IT decision-makers globally plan to move more of their IT functions to the cloud, with 66% of these planning on doing so within the next 12 months. Additionally, 45% of the world’s IT leaders say they are prioritising a multicloud approach in their technology strategy.
Quotes
- Kenneth Blowers, CEO, Loudplay:
“Over the past five years, and in conjunction with global technology leaders such as Equinix, Loudplay has built a unique high-performance cloud platform. Our challenge was to ensure that as we expanded our business into new markets and across vast distances, we could maintain the very best user experience.
“Loudplay is an innovator and disruptor in the field of cloud-based technologies and building our own infrastructure across disparate locations wasn’t an option. Equinix’s ECX Fabric through AirSpeed provides us with a cost-effective and unrivalled reach to our target markets that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. We have an aggressive strategy to make our platform the very best and it is our key selling point when negotiating partnerships with telecom providers. AirSpeed and Equinix’s interconnection services and cutting-edge technology continue to help differentiate our platform.”
- Kevin O’Connor, Partner Account Manager, Equinix:
“Research from Equinix has shown that cloud is the number one driver of channel engagement as businesses continue to migrate away from on-premises infrastructure to colocation and the cloud. Through our channel partners, such as AirSpeed, we are helping more businesses to realise the benefits of cloud. Loudplay is an innovative company that is embracing the full potential of cloud to facilitate multinational expansion quickly and affordably. ECX Fabric is ideally suited to cloud gaming providers based on its ability to provide high-speed, secure and uninterrupted service for users.”
- Matt George, Director of Field Development, EMEA, Equinix:
“Speed is essential for an optimal gaming experience and arguably the key challenge for gaming companies to address. High latency or lag is a primary cause of player frustration. Through Loudplay’s investment in edge computing, the company is endeavouring to support a ping rate of 20-30 milliseconds or less—depending on the technical infrastructure available in the market—ensuring excellent performance and a rich gaming experience. Placing cloud gaming platforms at the edge and being closer to the users, enables a better Quality of Experience (QoE) on whatever device they are using.”
-Ends-
Additional Resources
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.
###
Equinix Media Contacts
Luke O’ Baoill
Comit (For Equinix)
+353 86 077 4841
luke@comit.ie
Jess Sullivan (EMEA)
+44 7876 712861
Jess.Sullivan@eu.equinix.com
Equinix Investor Relations
Katrina Rymill
+1 650-598-6583
krymill@equinix.com
Chip Newcom
+1 650-598-6262
cnewcom@equinix.com