Equinix deploys Azure ExpressRoute into Melbourne data centre
Global interconnection company Equinix has today announced it has deployed Azure ExpressRoute into its Melbourne data center, ME1.
The move enables Melbourne businesses to be able to directly connect with Microsoft Azure through the ME1 International Business Exchange data center, the company says in a statement.
The deployment is part of Equinix's global partnership with Azure, which now directly connects 16 markets globally with Azure ExpressRoute.
Jeremy Deutsch, managing director, for Equinix Australia, says, "As we move into the interconnected era, enterprises require the ability to connect to multiple clouds, multiple users and multiple networks to fully reap the business benefits of cloud computing.
"It is through the Equinix Cloud Exchange we can offer our Melbourne customers improved security with a flexible and reliable connection to Azure, giving Equinix customers further choice and flexibility to pick the cloud services and connections best suited for them," he says.
Australia's digital economy contributed $79 billion to Australia's GDP in 2013/14, according to a recently released report, Deloitte Access Economics: The Connected Continent II1. The report says this contribution is estimated to increase to $139 billion by 2020. It says Equinix is playing a major role in advancing the Australian digital economy, through the recent expansion of its Australian footprint.
The ME1 IBX data center enables Melbourne businesses to connect with Equinix's network-dense ecosystem of more than 1,000 networks globally, 130 of which are available in Australia. It provides customers with access to over 500 cloud providers across more than 100 data centers worldwide, providing improved performance of cloud-based applications and workloads through high-throughput, low-latency connections. ME1, Equinix's fourth data center in Australia and its first in Melbourne, officially opened in March 2014. "Microsoft is pleased to continue to work with Equinix to provide even more Australian customers and partners the option to create private connections between the Azure public cloud and infrastructure located on-premises or in a colocation environment, adds Ross Ortega, principle product manager, networking, Microsoft Azure.
