Company

HISTORY

Learn more about the story of Equinix—beginning in Palo Alto in 1998.

Chapter One: In the Beginning

1998 - 1999

In 1998, our founders, Jay Adelson and Al Avery, were working on a research project as facilities managers at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). They toiled in the basement of the R&D department, developing ideas that would later become the PAIX®*, or the Palo Alto Internet Exchange.

During this time, the Internet was expanding at an unprecedented rate. But due to its structural limitations, traffic congestion was the norm. The Internet needed to expand if it was to survive.

Early on, Adelson and Avery recognized the need to provide physical connection points where networks could interconnect. However, they knew this site needed to be run by a neutral party to avoid the competing interests of various telecommunication providers. Adelson and Avery called this neutral party a Neutral Internet Exchange (NIX).

Their business idea was simple, yet groundbreaking—create physical places for networks to exchange critical information.

In creating their new company, Adelson and Avery brought together several guiding principles—equality, neutrality, and "eliminating the middleman." Their business vision? To unite major networks and interconnect content companies. They built data centers not just for colocation but for exchanging traffic. They knew these centers would have to have world-class security and operational reliability to attract the telecommunications companies.

In April of 1998, several of Silicon Valley’s pioneer companies invested in Adelson and Avery’s vision. On June 22, 1998, Equinix was incorporated.

Soon the first-ever International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) center was built in Ashburn, Virginia. Called DC1, the data center opened on July 27, 1999. The DC1 IBX included the signature architectural elements of many of Equinix’s future centers—the mantrap, five levels of biometric security, and the red silo.

* PAIX is a registered trademark of Switch & Data Facilities Co., Inc.

Chapter Two: Growth

1999 - 2000

In 1999, the Equinix management team was coming together and their primary goal was to help Equinix attract networks. The company goal was to open IBX centers in 40 cities in two years.

Equinix attracted networks by “matchmaking” with content companies. An early victory occurred when Equinix brought in two major networks—AT&T and UUNet.

During this time, the Internet continued to expand at breakneck speed, but it was still inefficient, causing major slowdowns. To better handle the growth of the Internet, seven major networks planned to join forces and interconnect with each other under one data center provider’s roof. They chose Equinix. Once the major networks established a Point of Presence (PoP) in Equinix centers, content companies began to come to Equinix in droves, looking to reach the eyeballs of the major network customers.

In April of 2000, SV1 was opened. In August of 2000, the Equinix IPO raised over $270 million.

Chapter Three: Survivor

2001 - 2002

As the dot-com bubble burst, the entire industry was sent into a tailspin. Many telecommunications companies left the colocation data center business. Equinix stayed true to its original business and proved to be one of the few survivors.

Having just opened the largest data center in the industry, the company was in a tenuous position. By the second half of 2002, the economy showed signs of recovery. In December 2002, Equinix restructured its business to gain financial stability and acquired Pihana Pacific and i-STT, two network-neutral data center providers serving the Asia-Pacific region.

By December of 2002, company debt was restructured, and Equinix set out on a growth plan.

Chapter Four: Rebirth

2003 - 2004

Experts say Equinix survived the dot-com meltdown for one reason: if it shut down, the information economy itself would be compromised. The seven major networks that joined forces to choose Equinix data centers to create an interconnection hub, and their customers, helped sustain the company for the long run.

Equinix began to expand by purchasing the data centers left behind by the telecommunication companies that abandoned the data center business during the dot-com bust. In October 2003, Equinix subleased a data center located in Santa Clara, California. In April 2004, Equinix signed a long-term lease for an additional 95,000 square feet of data center space adjacent to its Washington DC IBX Center. That same month, Equinix acquired a 103,000 square foot data center in San Jose, California.

In 2003 and 2004, Equinix was the best performing stock on the NASDAQ.

Chapter Five: Expansion

2005 - 2007

By 2005, Equinix was aggressively growing. The company leased seven new data centers. But by 2006, the market had settled and customers’ requirements for colocation and interconnection were changing. The company began to build the next generation of IBX centers, better suited to handle new high power density operations. In the same year, Equinix opened new IBX centers in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.

2007 was an even bigger year. In January, the company acquired an expansion data center in Tokyo. In February, a significant investment allowed incremental expansion of the Singapore IBX. In March, a new IBX was built on the Washington DC area campus. And in June, Equinix purchased a site for a new data center in the Los Angeles market and announced the expansion of SV2 IBX.

That same month, the company shared its intention to acquire IXEurope, a leading provider of colocation services in Europe. In September, the IXEurope deal was finalized, strengthening Equinix’s position as the world’s leading global data center and interconnection provider.

Chapter Six: Looking Forward

2008 and beyond

As the company looks forward into 2008 and beyond, we will continue to dedicate ourselves to the vitality of the information-driven world. This means that we will:

At Equinix, our vision and expertise are at your service.