Equinix expands Zurich data center ZH5 - expansion continues

Big day on June 21, 2017 in Oberengstringen just outside Zurich: Equinix announces the completion of the second expansion phase of the International Business Exchange ™ (IBX) Datacenter ZH5. The expansion created an additional 900 square meters of data center space and 280 cabinets at ZH5 to meet the ever-growing demand for connectivity and co-location. Equinix invested approximately USD 18 million, underscoring both its growth in Switzerland and the importance of the Zurich region as a business location. As digitalization has become a strategic business principle, Equinix offers companies direct connectivity to network service providers as well as international cloud service providers such as Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Google and Softlayer. But Equinix also offers its data center services to "smaller" customers, such as those who want to operate a private cloud and rely on the high data security standards in Switzerland. "In a way, we are the enablers of digitalization," said Roger Semprini, Managing Director of Equinix Switzerland, at a media orientation.

New use of the former flower exchange

The ZH5 data center was opened in 2013 in the former flower exchange in Oberengstringen. With a total of around 6,670 square meters, the site is Equinix's largest data center in the Zurich area when completed and houses one of the most important Internet nodes in Switzerland. Expansion work began in October 2016, driven by high demand for data center space and interconnection from the financial community, cloud providers and the telecommunications market in this important economic region.

ZH5 is connected to the other Equinix IBX data centers in Zurich via a fiber optic ring line, creating a high-performance, interconnection-ready campus for the greater region. In total, Equinix hosts more than 90 network providers, more than 60 cloud service providers, about 40 financial companies, and more than 20 content providers and enterprise customers each at its data centers in Zurich. In other words: Streaming services such as Netflix and the various social media platforms only function thanks to such data centers.

Further expansion planned

Zurich is an important interconnection and financial center in Switzerland and centrally located in Europe, Zurich is a key location from which to reach all European destinations in a maximum of 30 milliseconds. Roger Semprini explains, "Switzerland, in the heart of Europe, is a key market for Equinix with an ever-increasing demand for data center space. That is why we are continuously investing in our sites to meet our customers' needs for highly secure and high performance data centers. Equinix plays an important role in helping enterprises future-proof their IT operations by interconnecting people, sites, clouds and data. Today, we can announce the completion of the second phase of expansion at the ZH5 IBX data center - with the next phase already planned."

More information: www.equinix.ch