Global listed data center REIT Equinix has announced an expansion of its recently launched infrastructure-as-a-service arm, Equinix Metal. The division was launched last October in four cities, offering “physical infrastructure at software speeds” to colocation clients in the fast-growing market segment called “bare-metal-as-a-service,” or “managed appliance access.” More on exactly what that is follows below.
In a formal announcement earlier this month, Equinix said that its bare-metal-as-a-service offering is now available in 18 global metropolitan markets in the Americas (Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, São Paulo, Silicon Valley, Toronto and Washington, D.C.); in EMEA (Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid and Paris); and in Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo).
What is it?
Bare-metal-as-a-service is a new category of digital infrastructure, and is essentially the server hardware that enables hyperscale computing, or the physical layer that underlies software-driven IoT applications. Equinix Metal’s launch last October followed its $335 million acquisition in January 2020 of bare-metal-as-a-service provider Packet, and now enables clients of specialty hardware like hybrid cloud and storage systems to connect their solutions directly to the Equinix platform (through hardware that is geographically distributed for best possible client proximity), without the traditional, intensive capex involved in single-tenant hardware infrastructure.
The company has had an ongoing collaboration with Dell Technologies to offer metal-as-a-service on all Dell Technologies, and is expected to launch a series of non-exclusive solutions that may include multiple providers from its ecosystem in each solution category. Current Equinix Metal clients include media analytics company Comscore, bot detection and ad verification technology firm WhiteOps, blockchain infrastructure firm Bison Trails, financial markets custody and clearing firm Clear Street, cloud streaming site Restream, and amateur esports platform Super League Gaming.
Hyperscale update
This week, Equinix provided an update on its $3 billion xScale (hyperscale) data center program, including projects currently under development in Brazil, France, Japan and other markets. This planned global expansion, financed with the support of joint venture partners (notably Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC), will serve the growing demands of hyperscale companies that are deploying infrastructure through Equinix.
On March 1, Equinix opened its first xScale data center in Asia, TY12x, based in Tokyo. Equinix has had early success with TY12x, which operates in close proximity to 11 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers in the Tokyo metro region, a strategic hub for financial services, internet providers, and cloud, content and mobility service providers. TY12x has already secured an anchor tenant committed to the full phase one capacity and a significant portion of phase two capacity.
In addition to TY12x, the OS2x xScale data center in Osaka is currently under development, and is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2021. Equinix also expects to development another xScale data center in Japan in the future. Together, the three xScale data centers in Japan are expected to collectively deliver approximately 138 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers in Japan.
In Q4 2020, Equinix formed an initial joint venture valued in excess of $1 billion with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate xScale data centers in Japan. The latest JV followed a similar deal in 2019, also with GIC, to develop and operate xScale data centers in Europe.
Last month, Equinix opened its second xScale data center in Paris, PA9x, which is currently fully leased by a single hyperscale tenant. PA9x is Equinix’s second xScale data center in Paris, a strategic hub for the exchange of traffic between the U.S. and Europe, and a termination point for many submarine cable systems in the Mediterranean, bringing suppliers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific to Europe. Upon completion, PA9x will provide more than 29,600 square feet (about 2,750 square meters) of colocation space and support 10 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers.
In Q3 of this year, Equinix plans to open its first xScale data center in Latin America. SP5x is located in São Paulo, Brazil, and is in close proximity to the Equinix SP4 IBX data center. It will be connected by optical fiber to the existing four Equinix São Paulo IBX data centers and will support five megawatts of power to hyperscale customers in its first phase.
