Digital Realty today announced that it will be expanding its dedicated access to the IBM Cloud in 15 major metropolitan areas around the globe.

The data center colocation and interconnection solutions provider says these ‘on-ramps' will help to ensure efficient and secure access to enterprise applications within the IBM Cloud via Digital Realty's Service Exchange platform, increasing the existing IBM Cloud Direct Link Dedicated Hosting deployments already active within Digital Realty's global portfolio.

“Businesses are turning to the cloud to extract new value from their data and deliver better customer experiences faster than ever before,” says IBM Cloud vice president of network Kit Linton.

“The combination of Digital Realty's extensive global reach and highly resilient connectivity from IBM Cloud Direct Link can help businesses build the protected, hybrid cloud environment they need to innovate at scale.”

The new service has been launched across more than 70 Digital Realty data centers in Amsterdam, Ashburn, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Miami, Phoenix, Portland, New York, Santa Clara, Seattle, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.

The addition of Service Exchange means Digital Realty now has three options for connecting to IBM Cloud, including Direct Link Dedicated Hosting, Direct Link Connect and Direct Link Dedicated.

“Providing enterprise connectivity to the extensive range of services available through IBM Cloud via Direct Link ensures customers not only have access to the compute and storage resources they need, but they are also able to leverage more advanced cloud applications like analytics, blockchain technology and the Internet of Things,” says Digital Realty chief technology officer Chris Sharp.

“We look forward to continuing to work closely with IBM to enable our mutual customers to access the cloud services they need to accelerate their own business growth, no matter where they may be located.

The Digital Realty Service Exchange provides private, secure, high-throughput and low-latency access over a single interface to IBM Cloud as well as other service providers.