Verizon Enterprise Solutions and Equinix, the global interconnection and data centre company, announced an agreement through which Verizon will resell Equinix colocation and interconnection services worldwide.
Under the new reseller agreement, Verizon will be able to offer expanded solutions by combining colocation and interconnection services in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centres worldwide with its security, network and communications services to enable enterprises to implement hybrid cloud solutions and access a multi-cloud environment. The agreement provides direct, private access to cloud service providers including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.
The companies noted that the agreement builds on a long-standing relationship between Equinix and Verizon and follows an agreement of December 2016 through which Equinix is to acquire certain data centre sites from Verizon.
Equinix announced on December 6th last year that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase a portfolio of 24 data centre sites and operations from Verizon for $3.6 billion through an all cash transaction.
The 24 sites encompass 29 data centre facilities in 15 metro markets across the Americas region. The facilities and customers will strengthen Equinix’s global platform by increasing interconnection in the U.S. and Latin America and adding three new markets, namely Bogotá, Colombia, Culpeper, Virginia and Houston, Texas. The acquisition also strengthens Equinix’s position in the enterprise and strategic market sectors such as government and energy.
The agreement will expand Equinix’s total global footprint to 175 data centres across 43 markets, with approximately 17 million gross sq feet of space throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific markets. The transaction is expected to close around mid-2017.
Earlier this year, Equinix announced agreements to acquire ICT-Center AG, Zurich’s data centre operating business in Zurich, Switzerland, with a facility adjacent to its existing Zurich IBX data centres ZH2 and ZH4, and a transaction to purchase IO UK’s data centre operating business in Slough, UK, close to its existing Slough data centre campus.
