Equinix Launches Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric to Drive Cloud-first Digital Transformation in the MENA Region through Collaboration with datamena

DUBAI, UAE – October 20, 2020 –  Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company, in association with alliance partner and global communications hub datamena, has announced the availability of Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric® (ECX Fabric®) in the Dubai International Business Exchange™ (IBX®), DX1. This launch further underpins Equinix’s data center facility as a world-class, carrier-neutral hub for the region where carriers, content providers, cloud providers, financial service and enterprise customers can colocate critical data infrastructure.

According to IDC’s COVID-19 Market Impact Survey, nearly half of CIOs across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region plan to accelerate their existing digital experience efforts to reach new customers and meet operational agility needs. Investment in cloud-based solutions has skyrocketed since early 2020 in response to increasing digital demands.

ECX Fabric is an advanced interconnection solution that enables seamless, on-demand and direct access to multiple clouds and networks across the globe. By bringing together cloud service providers with enterprises consuming cloud, and enabling them to establish private, high-performance connections, ECX Fabric gives enterprises direct access to the services they need to build sophisticated hybrid cloud solutions. Furthermore, customers can utilize the solution to extend their market reach and increase privacy, performance and reliability of cloud service connections.

The ability to exchange large volumes of data through interconnection in this way is essential to compete in the digital economy. According to Equinix’s 2019-20 Global Tech Trends Survey, 7 out of 10 (70%) IT decision-makers in the UAE think interconnection is a key facilitator of digital transformation, with over two-thirds (68%) of IT decision-makers surveyed using interconnection to reduce the cost of connectivity.

Highlights/Key Facts

• ECX Fabric is an on-demand, SDN-enabled interconnection service that allows any business to connect between its own distributed infrastructure and any other company's distributed infrastructure, including the world's largest network service and cloud providers, on Platform Equinix. It enables customers to:

• Utilize advanced interconnection capabilities: ECX Fabric is a next-generation interconnection solution providing direct on-demand access to multiple clouds and networks. It streamlines cloud adoption processes for partners and users, accelerates delivery times and provides a higher quality and more secure cloud user experience.
• Minimize security threats with secure, high-performance connections: Better manage a wide range of business and technology risks and create secure, private connections bypassing the public internet with hybrid, multicloud solutions. ECX Fabric provides virtualized, private direct connections that bypass the internet to provide better security and performance with a range of bandwidth options.
• Adopt on-demand, automated connectivity to clouds: Determine how and where connections occur, with flexible bandwidth options, WAN-optimization, and SD-WAN solutions.
• Access many virtual circuits via one port: Connect to many participants (clouds, networks, enterprise customers) over a single physical port, enabling dynamic bandwidth allocation among various parties.
• Harness growth and success of the cloud: ECX Fabric gives rise to new possibilities for the cloud; automated provisioning of enterprise-grade cloud solutions through dense ecosystems of providers represents the next step forward in the growth and success of the cloud.

Quotes

• Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, Equinix:
  “Our alliance partnership with datamena allows Equinix to extend the transit zone offerings with the availability of ECX Fabric in the MENA region. Organizations can quickly add connectivity to multiple cloud providers and other ECX Fabric participants to ensure access to the systems and applications they need to succeed. Through this collaboration, we are providing enterprises with access to robust, modern data center facilities near the digital edge, enabling direct connections to an increasing number of clouds, customers and partners that are at the core of digital transformation efforts, as well as addressing pressing challenges holding businesses back from relying on the cloud for mission-critical business, including latency, security and performance issues.”

• Abou Mostafa, Vice President, Enterprise Fixed, datamena and Broadcast,  datamena:
  “Equinix’s flagship cloud connectivity platform—ECX Fabric—enables businesses in MENA to rapidly scale connections between workforces and customers, as well as add connectivity to multiple cloud providers and increase network capacity. This ensures companies have access to the systems and applications needed to maintain business continuity and remain competitive. The highly secure, scalable nature of interconnection will be fundamental for companies looking to move, store and process data at the digital edge with the aim of achieving superior business outcomes.”

Additional Resources

• Equinix 2019-20 Global Tech Trends Survey [report]
• Global Interconnection Index (GXI) Volume 4 [report]
• Learn more about Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric [website]
• Learn more about 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.

About datamena
datamena (a subsidiary of Eitc) is one of the most successful and continuously growing international transit hub`s in the middle east and is leading the content, cloud and digital growth in the region. datamena allows its partners, regional and global businesses leverage its diverse communications, cloud and content marketplace to accelerate the digital adaption, while hosting major cloud, content and network services providers in its world class facilities in UAE.

Forward Looking Statement
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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