Infotech Lead America: Data center major Equinix is on a major expansion spree.
As part of the expansion, Equinix has opened the third phase of its London LD5 International Business Exchange data center.
The data center provider is expected to address the needs of demand from customers the enterprise, cloud, network, digital media and finance sectors.
The new 4,000 square meters of data center space with capacity for 1,400 cabinets also features 130 dedicated Business Continuity Trading desks.
“Our LD5 expansion sits in one of the largest and fastest growing data center markets in the world, with increasing customer demand for capacity. This facility allows us to offer highly resilient and secure colocation facilities and to add sector-specific enhancements and features as we go,” said Russell Poole, managing director, Equinix UK.
Offering connectivity-rich emergency trading capabilities for financial services firms, the LD5 expansion represents a strategic addition to the Platform Equinix footprint of IBX data centers.
Equinix is expected to assist businesses to deploy on a scalable platform while maintaining performance, reliability, security and network choice.
Once the fourth and final phase of the build-out is completed, LD5 will provide 16,000 square meters of customer space, with capacity for 5,600 cabinets in total. The LD4/LD5 facilities are located on the same campus and are Equinix’s first data centers built completely from the ground up in Europe.
Connected by more than 1,000 diverse dark fiber links into Central London with global access to more than 900 network providers, the LD5 facility enables customers to exchange business information and expand their IT infrastructure.
The London facilities are close enough for trading staff to access quickly, but located outside the metropolitan area to comply with regulatory guidelines for disaster recovery and continuity of operations.
For trading firms, the proximity of LD4/LD5 to the transatlantic network cable landing station also provides a very fast connection between London and North American financial markets like New York and Chicago, which reduces trading latency. The new BCTR offering in London expands upon currently available BCTR offerings in Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Milan, New York and Sao Paulo.
Meanwhile, Equinix announced that ALOG Data Centers of Brazil plans to build a new International Business Exchange data center in Rio de Janeiro. The company, which has recently strengthened its presence in present in Hong Kong, will open the Rio de Janeiro center in the first quarter of 2013.
