VMware, Equinix Empower Enterprises to Drive Hybrid Cloud on Azure

Equinix, Inc., the world's digital infrastructure company™, is expanding private network access to Microsoft Azure via Azure ExpressRoute on Platform Equinix to service customers in six new global markets, including BERLIN, Bogotá, CANBERRA, DUBAI, Rio de Janeiro and SEOUL.

The expanded service provides enterprises with direct, on-demand network access to a variety of Azure services, including Azure VMware Solution, which helps enterprises speed up their hybrid cloud transformations by moving or extending on-premises VMware environments to Azure.

With this expansion, private cloud on-ramps to Azure ExpressRoute are now available in 32 Equinix metros, further extending Equinix's position as one of the leading providers of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute on-ramps in the world.

As enterprises today continue to digitally transform and shift to hybrid cloud architectures, private and secure connectivity to cloud service providers such as Microsoft Azure is essential for accelerating their journey to the cloud. For businesses looking to migrate strategic legacy applications to the cloud, the expanded global availability of Azure VMware Solution via Platform Equinix can help simplify hybrid cloud deployments by seamlessly shifting on-premises, legacy workloads to the cloud with high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity.

Additionally, enterprises can further extend their global reach by remotely accessing Azure ExpressRoute cloud services via Equinix Fabric™. By utilizing the interconnection capabilities of Equinix Fabric to privately connect to Azure services, enterprises can optimize the performance of their Azure VMware Solution environment on a global scale by minimizing network latency and bandwidth concerns from their hybrid cloud deployments.

Since 2013, Equinix has been enabling cloud connectivity to Azure. With the addition of six new global markets, Azure ExpressRoute is currently available in Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers in 32 metros, including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bogotá, Canberra, Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg (serving Berlin), Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, Milan, New York, Osaka, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Seattle, Seoul, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C. and Zurich.

Azure VMware Solution is available via Platform Equinix in 10 global Azure regions today. The hybrid cloud solution can be accessed directly in Equinix IBX data centers located in Amsterdam, Chicago, Dublin, London, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C. via Equinix Fabric.

Enterprise customers in remote markets can leverage Equinix Fabric for high-speed, low-latency connectivity into these available regions, which provides high-performance global availability for Azure VMware Solution through Platform Equinix.

Equinix Fabric is a software-defined interconnection service that allows any business to connect between its own distributed infrastructure and to any other company's infrastructure on Platform Equinix. When combined with Azure ExpressRoute, Equinix Fabric enables seamless, on-demand, direct access to cloud services such as Azure.

Equinix continues to be one of the single best places for companies to deploy their digital infrastructure for hybrid cloud architectures, offering the most locations to directly and privately connect to the leading IaaS and SaaS clouds. In just minutes, Equinix Fabric customers can directly connect to major cloud providers as well as a growing ecosystem of network service providers, SaaS and collaboration providers.

This rapidly growing density of enterprise digital infrastructure adjacent to public cloud infrastructure has continued to attract new cloud and network service providers to make their services available on Equinix Fabric.

Direct and private connectivity to strategic cloud service providers like Microsoft is essential as digital transformation can fuel higher demand for localized digital services at the edge.

According to Volume 4 of the Global Interconnection Index, an annual market study published by Equinix, interconnecting multiple cloud and IT providers across multiple locations and cloud regions represents the fastest-growing use case of interconnection bandwidth – and is expected to grow to 16% of the ecosystem by 2023.

Courtney Munroe, Research Vice President, IDC, commented, "As companies today architect their hybrid cloud infrastructures, they require strategically located facilities for cost-effective access to public clouds with reliable and predictable performance. With the global reach of Platform Equinix and cloud connectivity capabilities of Equinix Fabric, Equinix provides a clear path to the cloud for digital businesses. The global expansion of Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute service and Azure VMware Solution into more Equinix data centers around the world further empowers enterprises to run their most mission-critical applications and workloads securely on Azure while simplifying their hybrid cloud deployments."

Maura Hameroff, Director of Product Marketing for Azure, Microsoft, said, "By providing ExpressRoute connectivity to Microsoft Azure in more than 30 markets around the world, Equinix enables customers to adopt Azure VMWare Solution for migration, disaster recovery and hybrid scenarios. As Microsoft continues to deploy Azure VMware Solution globally, we are pleased to have Equinix as one of our partners that can provide dedicated access to these services through their network of data centers and global interconnection platform."

Narayan Bharadwaj, Vice President, Product Management, Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware, said, "Microsoft Azure VMware Solution empowers customers to seamlessly extend or completely migrate existing on-premises VMware applications to Azure without the cost, effort or risk of re-architecting applications or retooling operations. This helps customers gain cloud efficiency and enables them to innovate at their own pace with Azure services across security, data, and AI, as well as unified management capabilities. Platform Equinix offers Azure VMware Solution customers an important connectivity service to help enable access to and protection of mission-critical resources, accelerate migrations, and support business resiliency and continuity."

Royce Thomas, Senior Vice President, Strategic Alliances and Global Account Management, Equinix, explained, "In today's cloud-first world, accessing private connectivity to major cloud providers like Microsoft Azure is a critical priority for enterprises as they transition to the cloud. By expanding our collaboration with Microsoft to offer Azure ExpressRoute cloud services, including Azure VMware Solution, to customers in more markets around the world, we're helping companies get cloud ready by accelerating their hybrid cloud transformations on Platform Equinix."