Irish businesses to establish international presence as Equinix’s Network Edge goes live

Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructurecompany™, has announced the official switch-on of its Network Edge services in Dublin along with four new European markets including Paris, Helsinki, Milan and Stockholm. In EMEA, Network Edge is already live in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and Spain.

Network Edge enables any company to establish a presence where they don’t have an existing footprint, as well as process data closer to the user without the need for a physical deployment in a data centre. By adding Network Edge to five key markets, Equinix enables businesses that want to deploy or expand their services in these countries to interconnect to businesses throughout Europe without excessive expenditure on hardware.

Network Edge is a gateway to the full potential of Platform Equinix® for companies using the service. In this way, any company that wants to establish a presence virtually will be able to do so by deploying network function virtualisation (NFV) from multiple vendors, connecting their digital supply chains at Equinix, while scaling their IT and network infrastructure within minutes.

Maurice Mortell, Managing Director of Equinix in Ireland, said: “This is the future of doing business and it reflects the increasingly digitalised world that we live in, where virtual is the new reality. The days of needing a physical presence in every market are over. Instead, through Network Edge, Irish enterprises can virtually scale and do business with our largest European export markets without any need for a physical deployment.

“Year-on-year, Ireland is ranked as one of the most globalised countries in the world. Our homegrown enterprises are operating and exporting on a global scale and at the same time, we are attracting multinational organisations who want to do business with us. The switching on of Network Edge services in Ireland simplifies and accelerates this by enabling enterprises to deploy infrastructure where their customers are. In doing so, it opens up a new, exciting era of doing business in, and out of Ireland.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed greater emphasis on the need to put data closer to the user as businesses and workers across the globe adapt to a hybrid working environment. Deploying a traditional hardware-centric geographic presence is time consuming and expensive, with many businesses already re-evaluating their traditional office deployments. According to Equinix’s 2020-21 Global Tech Trends Survey, 54% of IT decision-makers in Ireland reported they had accelerated digital transformation plans because of the pandemic. A significant majority (62%) of respondents in Ireland also said the pandemic forced them to revisit and revise their IT strategy.

To succeed in their digital transformation journeys, global businesses need modern IT infrastructures in proximity to digital services and the ability to connect securely with multiple partners in various business ecosystems across the world. Equinix customers already benefit from Network Edge availability throughout the world, and this latest announcement will bring the number of countries using the service to over 25 markets, across four continents. In EMEA, Network edge is already deployed in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, and Spain and so by adding five more countries to the Network Edge portfolio, Equinix further strengthens the opportunity for thousands of existing and potential customers.

Network Edge enables real-time selection, configuration and connection of network and security devices from all major vendors worldwide, including Cisco, Juniper Networks and Palo Alto, among others. Network Edge is fully integrated with Equinix Fabric, the global on-demand, SDN-enabled interconnection service, now available at Equinix data centres across EMEA. These newly available services offer companies throughout Europe the ability to scale their businesses in response to digital demand.

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