NAVER Cloud expands global cloud presence and customer reach

Connecting customers across every market 

South Korea’s leading IT infrastructure and cloud services provider expands its global presence with Equinix by deploying its core and edge infrastructure and leveraging the strength and connectivity of Equinix to meet its customers’ cross-border cloud demands. 

Taking cloud to the next level 

NAVER Cloud launched its public cloud services platform, NAVER Cloud Platform, in April 2017. Since then, it has seen significant growth, with the number of customers doubling every year, and with the range of services reaching 225 across 18 categories. 

Coupled with a growing base of customers originating and operating outside of its home country of South Korea, NAVER Cloud needed to ramp up its cloud infrastructure globally to achieve its goal to be a leading global cloud services provider. 

After consecutive years of impressive growth, NAVER Cloud set its sights on expanding its business on a larger and more global scale. NAVER Cloud is also looking to provide more specialized cloud services to cater to various industries that include government and public organizations, finance, medical, education, gaming and communication sectors. 

NAVER Cloud focused on maintaining its high level of service and customer satisfaction across all geographies. To scale, it needed to distribute its infrastructure to key hubs around the world to reduce latency and maintain user experience. Connectivity with network service providers (NSPs) was critical to ensure high network redundancy with zero downtime. NAVER Cloud’s customers were also increasingly exploring hybrid cloud solutions with connectivity to multiple cloud service providers (CSPs). 

Considering all the dynamic and critical needs of its business and customers, NAVER Cloud needed a global interconnection and colocation partner that could deliver the scalability, performance, interconnectivity, security and support that it required to grow its cloud infrastructure. 

Powering cloud expansion with Equinix 

After a thorough and rigorous selection process that included multiple site visits and in-depth technical assessments, NAVER Cloud decided to partner with Equinix to grow its global business. Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers impressed NAVER Cloud with its high global standards for its facilities and colocation services, paired with connectivity to multiple NSPs in every location. With the consistency in standards and process, NAVER Cloud could deploy its systems and cloud services seamlessly and quickly in every location. 

The strategic locations of Equinix’s IBX data centers were also a natural fit with NAVER Cloud’s requirements to better serve its customers in key markets throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S. NAVER Cloud has since leveraged Equinix’s global footprint and is now deployed in key countries like Singapore, U.S., Germany and Japan. 

NAVER Cloud is also taking full advantage of Equinix’s interconnection services. One example is the Equinix Internet Exchange® (IX) which enables reach into an ecosystem of NSPs anywhere in the world. Another key solution is the Equinix Fabric®. 

Equinix Fabric allows NAVER Cloud to offer its international customers doing business in different countries direct connectivity to multiple CSPs in just minutes, especially those implementing hybrid cloud solutions. Customers can also establish network connections on demand between any two Equinix Fabric locations within a metro or globally via software-defined interconnection, offering high levels of scalability, agility and connectivity. 

Unlocking new business opportunities 

The rich ecosystem of CSPs on Equinix Fabric offers a host of possible cloud services and applications. This has been such a compelling feature that it has driven NAVER Cloud to explore developing customized hybrid cloud services through Equinix for its customers. With options available and a broad ecosystem of cloud and network providers to choose from, NAVER Cloud’s customers can now easily deploy their own customized hybrid cloud-driven business applications while avoiding vendor lock-in. 

The ability to customize, scale and be flexible to meet its customers’ dynamic business demands is critical to NAVER Cloud’s global growth strategy. As a challenger in the global IT infrastructure and cloud service provider space, NAVER Cloud is cognizant of the diverse needs of its customers in different markets. Equinix’s global footprint and interconnection capabilities enable NAVER Cloud to continue adapting its business strategy accordingly as market demands continue to evolve. 

With Equinix, NAVER Cloud has experienced the following benefits: 

• Expanded global presence and infrastructure with 11 IBX data center locations 
• Over 100 cross connects delivering high network availability and redundancy 
• Enabling hybrid cloud solutions for customers with high-performing interconnectivity options 
• Enhanced and expanded cloud services offering with reduced time to market 
• Well positioned to become a strong player in the cloud market 

Benefits

Increased service consumption and profitability 

Increase in cloud service consumption resulted in a 20-fold jump in average network bandwidth usage. Customers are happy with the consistent uptime and zero disruption provided by NAVER Cloud. This has resulted in an increase of NAVER Cloud’s profitability, positively impacting its bottom line. 

Faster time-to-market 

NAVER Cloud was able to find a partner and ecosystem that allowed it to bring new cloud services faster to the market—in months instead of years. This was possible because Equinix was able to provide the services and infrastructure support that NAVER Cloud required to deliver customized cloud services to its customers. 

Ongoing growth 

NAVER Cloud today is South Korea’s leading public cloud provider. The company has established its status through strategic investment and technology development, complemented by its experience operating NAVER’s and its affiliate companies’ IT infrastructure and cloud services. NAVER Cloud continues to expand its global infrastructure with Equinix to achieve its ambition to become one of the top five cloud service providers in the world within the next five years.