JULY 15, 2009
Equinix Expands in Downtown Chicago with Launch of New IBX Shared Suite Data Center Offering and Ch2 Expansion Opening
New Solution to Service Financial Trading Companies That Have Made Equinix’s Data Centers Strategic Hubs for Low-Latency Proximity Trading
Chicago, IL – July 15, 2009 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), a provider of global data center services, today announced that the company has signed a long-term lease for a new 19,400 square foot International Business Exchange™ (IBX) data center facility in downtown Chicago that will be used to launch a new offering from Equinix – IBX Shared Suite. The company also opened the previously announced expansion of its Chicago 2 (CH2) International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center. Both expansions are aimed at accommodating the strong growth from financial trading companies seeking low-latency proximity trading solutions in the downtown Chicago area. The expansions will bring Equinix’s total footprint in the Chicago area to 538,000 square feet, solidifying the company’s leadership as the largest provider of network-neutral colocation space in the Chicago area.
The new Chicago 4 (CH4) IBX Shared Suite will be located in the Lakeside Technology Center, the same facility as the company’s two current downtown centers, CH1 and CH2. The CH4 IBX Shared Suite’s proximity and direct connectivity to the 87 networks, carriers and dark fiber providers in Equinix’s existing Chicago centers, as well as Equinix Financial eXchange, the established community of execution venues, buy and sell side firms and technology utilities, makes CH4 an ideal data center solution for financial trading companies seeking low-latency trading solutions. CH4 will also be directly linked to Equinix’s CH3 center, located in Elk Grove Village, IL, offering direct connectivity between customers in downtown and suburban Chicago. CH4 will provide approximately 600 additional cabinet equivalents and is expected to open for customers in Q1 of 2010. Equinix intends to invest less than $10.0 million of capital expenditures in the CH4 expansion. The CH2 IBX center expansion adds 200 cabinet equivalents.
With 37 percent year-over-year revenue growth, Chicago is one of Equinix’s fastest growing markets. To serve the market, Equinix has pursued a strategy of operating in both the downtown and suburban areas. This enables enterprises and other customers seeking larger footprints to locate at the company’s suburban CH3 center, while providing network service providers and financial customers seeking dense interconnection points with downtown locations that host a valuable concentration of their strategic business partners and customers.
Driving much of Equinix’s growth in the Chicago area has been Equinix Financial eXchange. Companies participating in Equinix Financial eXchange have located in Equinix’s high performance data centers to access the widest choice of low-latency networks and to directly exchange data with strategic partners and customers in close proximity. Equinix’s Chicago presence currently represents one of the densest interconnection points in the global financial markets, where financial trading companies leverage the reliability and low-latency benefits of proximity trading with their strategic partners. Current Equinix Financial eXchange participants in Chicago include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), IntercontinentalExchange (ICE), Deutsche Borse, NYSE SFTI and Trading Technologies.
The IBX Shared Suite offering will provide additional customer colocation space in close proximity to the ecosystem of companies participating in Equinix’s metro area IBX centers. These smaller centers will feature Equinix’s standard product offering for cabinets, power, cross connects, and SmartHands service. IBX Shared Suites will be configured as shared space versus the independent cages that Equinix offers in its traditional IBX centers.
“Today’s announcement represents a fortuitous opportunity for Equinix to quickly and cost effectively add to our capacity in downtown Chicago, where our CH1 and CH2 centers are well established as the leading hubs for the proximity trading operations of the region’s leading financial trading companies,” said Steve Smith, president and CEO of Equinix. “The Equinix Financial eXchange model has been so successful in the Chicago area that we have built similar ecosystems of financial trading companies in our Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, New York, Tokyo and Zurich area centers, which has made this vertical one of the fastest growing segments of our business in 2009.”
About
Equinix Financial eXchange
Equinix IBX data centers support a global financial community
of buy-side and sell-side firms, hedge funds, execution venues, market data
suppliers, network providers and trading technology vendors, all interconnected
inside a neutral, open marketplace. Equinix has become the data center
for the well-connected, offering low-latency connectivity and colocation
capabilities via facilities around the world. Learn more at: http://financial.equinix.com
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) provides global data
center services that ensure the vitality of the information-driven world. Global enterprises, content and financial
companies, and network service providers rely upon Equinix’s insight and
expertise to protect and connect their most valued information assets.
Equinix operates 42 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers across 18 markets in North
America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Important information about Equinix is routinely posted on the investor relations page of its website located at www.equinix.com. We encourage you to check Equinix’s website regularly for the most up-to-date information.