Equinix bolsters its HK data centres with AWS Direct Connect

Today Equinix revealed the immediate availability of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect cloud service in its Hong Kong data centers.

The company says this addition means it now offers region-wide availability for AWS Direct Connect, which will aid in driving hybrid cloud deployment and digital transformation across Asia Pacific.

The Equinix Hong Kong campus consists of five data centers comprising more than 26,500 square metres of colocation space, hosting more than 505 companies across multiple industries.

Today's announcement means customers in Hong Kong will be able to utilise dedicated access to AWS Direct Connect and establish secure connections between their networks and AWS.

Equinix Strategic Alliances global managing director Kaushik Joshi says there are a number of benefits of this update, with customers being able to take advantage of:

• Predictable performance and user experience with dedicated, low-latency, high bandwidth direct connections to AWS
• Enhanced compliance by connecting privately to AWS and keeping data within region, without going over the public internet
• Hybrid cloud enablement that allows enterprises to maintain private clouds and manage sensitive data within Equinix data centers in proximity to AWS

''Amazon Web Services continues to be a dominant player in today's cloud infrastructure services space and we are delighted to expand our relationship with them," says Joshi.

"Since 2016 we have seen a 350% increase in customer connections to AWS via Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric, highlighting the significant adoption of cloud services that can offer cost and application performance benefits. It is a point of pride that we offer the most AWS Direct Connect onramps among our data center peers.''

According to Equinix, the company deploys more AWS Direct Connect onramps than any other data center provider. Hong Kong now joins data centers across 27 strategic markets, including Amsterdam, Chicago, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, Munich, Osaka, Singapore, and Sydney.

The market that Equinix is looking to target is easily apparent. According to a 2018 IT Trends Report, 63 percent of Hong Kong IT professionals indicate that cloud/hybrid IT is the most important technology to their organisation's IT strategy.

Joshi says today's announcement will allow enterprises to advance their hybrid cloud strategies by seamlessly and safely incorporating cloud services into their existing architectures.