Innovation Federal Credit Union builds an agile interconnection ecosystem

Dedicated connectivity powers faster digital banking

Thanks to UniversalEdge, an Equinix-partner infrastructure solution from Oncore Cloud Services, Innovation Federal Credit Union (Innovation) can now interconnect with a diverse ecosystem of service providers and financial industry partners to deliver modern, digital financial services across Canada. Connecting quickly and flexibly enables growth and innovation—now and into the future.

Embracing cloud transformation

Innovation began planning its cloud-based transformation strategy back in 2015. It needed to compete against established banks and nimble fintech startups alike, while providing the reliable, differentiated digital banking services its members expect.

Innovation’s long-term objective was to adopt a fully cloud-based infrastructure solution. It became clear that networking complexity was a major roadblock impeding this goal. Traditional telcos set up connections too slowly, so Innovation searched for a more agile alternative.

Expanding scale and customer reach

In 2020, Innovation began considering Equinix to help implement its modernization strategy, largely because of Equinix's reputation as a modern solution provider with a robust financial ecosystem.

“We wanted to work with a strong digital leader that could accelerate our digital strategy and support us across Canada,” said Dean Gagne, Chief Disruption Officer, Innovation Federal Credit Union.

Innovation ultimately chose to work with Oncore Cloud Services, an Equinix partner. Deploying Oncore’s UniversalEdge solution simplified and accelerated the process of accessing Equinix interconnection and colocation services.

In 2023, Innovation became the third Canadian credit union to be federally regulated, which allowed it to begin promoting its services outside its home province of Saskatchewan. Digital capabilities from Oncore and Equinix helped Innovation ensure compliance with the Bank Act of Canada and enable nationwide expansion.

Better networking means better partnerships

Equinix has invested heavily to expand in Canada, and this helped Innovation feel confident it could deploy in the right places to meet its business requirements—current and future.

This was important because many of the payment providers and fintechs that Innovation needs to connect with were already Equinix customers. Using Equinix Fabric, Innovation can interconnect with these partners quickly, simply and securely—whether they’re cloud native or traditional financial providers.

The solution has also streamlined Innovation’s approach to cloud connectivity and management. Innovation uses Microsoft Azure services in its digital modernization initiative. Leveraging Equinix IBX facilities in Toronto and Montreal ensures adjacency to Azure’s Canada Central and Canada East regions.

In the past, Innovation worked with traditional telcos that offered multitenant networking. In contrast, Equinix Fabric provides dedicated, single-tenant connectivity, enabling reliable service and data security.

Benefits

Lower latency

By taking advantage of cloud adjacency at Equinix, Innovation can connect to Azure ExpressRoute while ensuring very low latency and avoiding performance bottlenecks. Innovation estimates that it cut response times by 50% or more.

Predictable performance

Since Innovation no longer uses multitenant connections, it can exchange traffic without having to worry about unexpected delays. This gives Innovation greater control over its services. It can innovate at the speed it chooses, instead of being held back by slower organizations it shares connections with.

Infrastructure agility

Innovation may not know exactly what tomorrow holds, but it does know that any future services will require interconnection. The ability to create new virtual connections in minutes with Equinix Fabric® ensures the network agility that Innovation needs to expand services quickly, without adding complexity.

Data security

Innovation faces strict privacy and sovereignty requirements, and its members expect their sensitive financial data to be protected at all times. The ability to deploy in the right places and set up dedicated connections as needed plays an essential role in meeting these requirements.

A turnkey experience

Partnering with Oncore helped ensure that the solution incorporated the exact Equinix and partner capabilities that Innovation needs. Thus, it’s able to enjoy all the benefits of cloud services while avoiding potential cloud complexity.