The network-neutral colocation model is gaining traction, said Peter Van Camp, CEO of Equinix, speaking at Citigroup’s 14th Annual Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix. Colocation and hosting have been difficult businesses for a number of companies and recent withdrawals from this market have included Sprint and Cable & Wireless USA (the old Exodus business). Equinix now sees competition from Level 3 and AT&T, but Van Camp pointed out that Equinix does not own a network and does not plan to acquire one. He likened the company’s network-neutral model to an international airport hub, where efficiency is created by having the largest number of carriers meeting at a common point. Equinix now operates 14 Internet Business Exchanges in the U.S. and Asia Pacific and has over 650 customers. The revenue split is currently 74% for colocation services, 18% for interconnection services and 8% for managed services, although Equinix is working through such IBM for delivering managed services. Van Camp said he sees continued growth in Internet usage both in terms of traffic volume and the number of broadband subscribers worldwide — and these drive greater need for backbone interconnectivity. Equinix’s growth opportunities will also come from “content-to-network” interconnections. For instance, Electronic Arts distributes its online gaming content to all major Internet backbones from the company’s Internet Business Exchanges. A recorded webcast is available online.
Equinix is based in Foster City, California and has 443 employees. http://www.equinix.com
