Equinix restricts access to Europe data centres to prevent COVID-19 spread

Equinix has restricted access to most of its data centers across Europe in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, with the company's UK data centers due to follow suit on March 31.

In the company's other global locations (besides Asia Pacific), entry is by appointment only.

The company is restricting access to everyone who does not fall under the scope of critical Equinix employees and essential workers, meaning that customers, customer contractors, visitors and non-critical workers will not be able to enter the facilities.

All Equinix data centers are fully operational with staff on site to support those who have limited access.

Equinix EVP of global operations, Raouf Abdel, says the company is taking these measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – particularly as the data center industry is considered 'critical infrastructure' to many government organisations.

"Equinix firmly believes that the data center industry has a responsibility to protect the collective health, safety and well-being of all those who work for us, with us, or who come into contact with us in our daily lives," says Abdel.

Those customers with special permissions and government-designated critical infrastructure status wishing to visit data center premises must schedule a Work Visit for critical work.

Abdel notes that the company has imposed these measures to ensure employee safety and to ensure its services support vital operations of health, financial, government and technology sectors.

"We are also working hard to ensure the large number of people around the world adapting to remote working can do so seamlessly, and that enterprises can quickly ramp up their digital infrastructure by adding new locations, connections and applications. It is more important than ever for businesses to have the ability to deliver services virtually and flexibly.

To support customers, Equinix is making a number of services free for use during the COVID-19 outbreak. These services include Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric, and Equinix Internet Exchange.

Abdel says that customers can also use Smart Hands, an operational support service for data center equipment troubleshooting, remote management, and installation to leverage the company's data center technicians.

"Now more than ever, it is imperative that our industry works together to not only support the global economy, but to do all we can ourselves to limit the spread of COVID-19. If we do that, we can ensure business continuity of our customers and partners around the world who are relying on us in this period of increased digital disruption and play a critical part in fighting this pandemic.

On March 25, Equinix officially opened its doors to its fourth International Business Exchange data center in Singapore, codenamed SG4.  The US$74 million investment will support Singapore's development as a smart nation.