The data centre giant’s new product innovation is designed to support digital transformation by allowing businesses to connect supply chains at Equinix through network function virtualisation (NFV) from multiple vendors.
Reductions in capital expenses and the ability to scale IT and network services are some of the Network Edge benefits listed by Equinix, which has aimed to bring seamless, ultra-low latency services closer to end users, clouds and valuable ecosystems in more locations.
Offered as a broad suite of vendor-neutral, virtual network services, Network Edge allows customers to select, configure and connect network and security devices in real time and from a choice of vendors including Cisco, Juniper Networks and Palo Alto Networks.
“As the consumption of applications from multiple clouds continue to grow, enterprise networks are tasked with delivering a fast and secure application experience for their users, wherever they are,” commented Sachin Gupta, SVP, product management, Enterprise Networking Business, Cisco.
“Working with Equinix’s Network Edge services allows our enterprise customers to achieve proximity to SaaS and cloud providers for their global locations.
"The service will also provide the ability to automatically deploy and manage Cisco SD-WAN services to ensure an optimal application experience.”
Network Edge also includes built-in integration to Equinix’s global on-demand, SDN-enabled interconnection service, Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric).
The two services combine to allow the deployment of virtual edge devices, which can interconnect to clouds and network providers located across the globe.
Network Edge is designed for cloud uses cases such as routing, migration, hybrid firewalls and branch-to-cloud SD-WAN.
Bill Long, VP, Interconnection Services, Equinix, said: “As we continue evolving the Equinix global interconnection platform, we are introducing new product innovations to help enterprises transform their global businesses at the digital edge.
“With Network Edge, we’re providing both an extraordinary suite of virtual network services, and a compelling value proposition to help enterprises scale globally by deploying digital-ready infrastructures at the edge, within a matter of minutes.
“By seamlessly integrating Network Edge with our ECX Fabric service, customers can also tap into the world’s largest interconnection ecosystem, virtually, and unlock enormous business value through our platform.”
