IBM announced it is partnering with Equinix, Inc., an interconnection and data center company, to help provide enterprises direct access to the full portfolio of cloud services from SoftLayer, an IBM Company, via the Equinix Cloud Exchange. Equinix also announced Cloud Exchange enhancements, including API functionality that makes it easier for service providers to use a single interface to the Cloud Exchange, resulting in scalable, private and secure connections to their cloud services with near real-time provisioning.
“SoftLayer, with its broad reach into the enterprise market and proven success in networking will be a great asset to Cloud Exchange, enabling customers to seamlessly replicate data between markets,” said Ihab Tarazi, chief technology Officer for Equinix. “Our direct access capabilities to cloud services such as SoftLayer, provide enterprise customer with a choice of multiple clouds to better enable their hybrid cloud strategies.”
Equinix and SoftLayer previously partnered to offer customers direct cloud connection inside Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers via SoftLayer’s Direct Link service, a dedicated network connection. By extending the partnership to include additional secure and dynamic connections through Cloud Exchange, SoftLayer provides its customers with the ability to easily move production workloads in and out of the cloud, thus better enabling them to fully realize their hybrid cloud strategies.
By offering a connection to SoftLayer’s cloud services via the Equinix Cloud Exchange, SoftLayer provides its customers additional choices, a global network that extends beyond the 40 cloud centers that IBM has committed to establishing, and peace of mind through a secure, low latency connection to the cloud.
The Equinix Cloud Exchange is currently available in 17 markets globally – Amsterdam, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington D.C. – with expansions planned to Osaka, Sao Paulo and Zurich. Access to SoftLayer cloud services will be available through the Equinix Cloud Exchange in nine markets spanning the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, including Amsterdam, Chicago, Dallas, Paris, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.
For more information on the Equinix Cloud Exchange, visit
www.equinix.com/solutions/by-services/interconnection/exchanges/equinix-cloud-exchange.
More information on IBM is available at www.ibm.com.