By expanding the service to Frankfurt, Geneva, Milan, Stockholm and Zurich, Equinix builds on its integration with Microsoft ExpressRoute extending its reach to 26 global metros including nine in EMEA.
“In today’s global digital economy, interconnecting with digital services and customers at the edge – in multiple and often distant locations – is critical,” said Bob Breynaert, global managing director of strategic alliances, Equinix. “By expanding our collaboration with Microsoft to bring Azure ExpressRoute to Equinix IBX data centres in 26 metros globally, we’re ensuring Microsoft can accelerate local and global Azure solutions, reducing their average deployment implementation from 8-9 months to 6-8 weeks.”
Available as of Q1 2020, customers in the five additional European metros will be able to access Azure ExpressRoute through Equinix directly at all available speeds, consistent with the service currently offered for Azure ExpressRoute in existing global markets. In addition, this extended service enables enterprises to successfully implement private connectivity capabilities to build extensible hybrid-cloud strategies. These same strategies do not perform well over the internet or typical WAN networks.
“Engagement with Equinix accelerates Azure consumption with our enterprise customers – allowing for consistent and optimized Azure migrations,” added Ross Ortega, partner PM manager of Microsoft Azure Networking at Microsoft. “We are pleased to expand Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute connections throughout Europe. This allows more businesses in these growing markets to access these services through the Equinix network of data centres and global interconnection platform.”
According to the third volume of the Global Interconnection Index – an annual market study published by Equinix – interconnecting to multiple providers across multiple edge locations is the most prominent use case for interconnection bandwidth and is expected to grow four times by 2022.
