Citing strong market demand for data center service, Equinix announced plans to open its eighth International Business Exchange data center in the New York metropolitan area and expand its data centers in Chicago, Ill., and Frankfurt, Germany. 
Equinix is investing approximately $140 million in its newest New York metro area IBX data center. The new facility is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2012 and will primarily support the growth of Equinix’s extensive financial ecosystem. The first phase will add approximately 156,000 gross square feet of space and 2,200 cabinet equivalents to Platform Equinix in the New York area, with room for additional expansions that would bring the total capacity to approximately 380,000 gross square feet of space and 7,100 cabinet equivalents.
The company is also investing approximately $30 million to expand its Chicago-3 IBX (CH3) and approximately $70 million to further expand its Frankfurt-2 IBX (FR2). The CH3 expansion will add approximately 19,000 square feet of colocation space and 600 cabinet equivalents, and is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2011. The FR2 expansion, which is the third phase of expansions in this data center, will add approximately 102,000 gross square feet of space and 1,900 cabinet equivalents when completed in 2012. The initial build-out of this expansion, which will add approximately 480 cabinets, is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2011.http://www.equinix.com
