REDWOOD CITY, Calif.,
Dec. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/
-- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the
global interconnection and data center company,
today announced its 2017 industry predictions, noting that
global IT transformation will trigger significant changes
for several industries in the coming year. With an
unmatched geographic footprint across 40 global markets, and with
more than 8,000 customers and 188,400 cross-connects, Equinix has
unique data-driven insights into the key drivers pushing
enterprises to succeed in the digital economy.
This unique vantage point is enabled through the platform that
connects established and emerging ecosystems of internet
exchanges, content, trading, cloud, enterprise and big data
providers.
Equinix's 2017 Predictions Include:
1) The Year
of Multi-cloud Convergence
Cloud adoption has matured to an
advanced stage where enterprises are increasingly relying more on
cloud infrastructure. Enterprises are already using multiple clouds
today, and the need to connect more diverse and traditionally
divided ecosystems with demanding expectations around performance,
user experience and seamless integration will push this trend more
aggressively in the coming year. 2017 will be the tipping point,
when the convergence of multiple clouds across the enterprise –
data, applications, infrastructure and personal clouds – will
fundamentally change the way people and businesses operate.
2) The Rise
of the Digital Edge
Business models are being disrupted,
forcing changes in how enterprises operate in the digital economy.
The convergence of multiple clouds will call for a natural
extension of the corporate boundaries for today's digital business
to the edge – where users and data reside. This will be important
for businesses to better engage with customers in real-time,
leveraging social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies.
3) The Rise
of the Interconnected Fabric
Companies will move to connect
their digital and physical worlds – to support business around the
globe. As enterprises leverage multiple clouds, it can be
challenging to manage solutions across different cloud environments
from different vendors. If the right cloud management structure is
not in place early, these operational issues could start stacking
up at a rapid speed leading to severe issues impacting service
delivery at the digital edge. 2017 will see the acceptance of an
interconnected fabric among enterprises – residing in carrier
neutral facilities – to create a central nervous system that
connects all aspects of the digital business.
4) Security
becomes Paramount
For the digital business to be successful
and address demands placed by regulatory compliance, companies need
to solve for security in a distributed environment across people,
things, processes and information. As hybrid cloud becomes more
popular, Enterprises will realize that cloud providers do not
provide all encompassing security solutions. Enterprises will have
to own the security of their applications and data within the
multi-cloud environment. Interconnections will provide
customers the choice to move from point security solutions to the
flexibility of buying Security-as-a-Service with benefits such as
speed of implementation, ease of set-up and maintenance, real-time
protection, etc.
5) The Age
of Interconnected Commerce
The payments world is undergoing
more change, more rapidly than it has encountered since the dawn of
currency. Growing smartphone penetration and web access are
enabling widespread popularity of global, mobile and online
commerce. The proprietary siloed approach that has been the
standard for payments services delivery is beginning to fade away
and opening doors for new technologies and business models at the
intersection of commerce and payments. At the same time, the
decentralization of payments services technology is expanding value
for merchants, as they are now able to select platforms that work
better for their businesses. This shift will require
businesses to become interdependent and cloud-enabled, with
reliable, secure and instantaneous connectivity to compete.
A universe of interconnected commerce and payments
providers will create new opportunities for the integration of
payments, commerce, data, and marketing, enabling new solutions and
partnerships around the globe.
6)
Software-Defined Infrastructure and Advanced Networking
The ongoing and massive surge in data traffic worldwide has pushed
the way for the new age of global network backbone consisting of
intercontinental submarine cables, 5G wireless networks and
satellites that beam data down to earth using lasers.
Networking that previously depended on physical wiring can now be
dynamically controlled via software. Going forward, the next
generation infrastructure - compute, storage, network and data
centers - will be open source based. Software Defined
Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)
centralize and automate the management of large, distributed
multi-data center networks using simple application level
policies.
7) Internet
of Things (IoT) Becomes a Reality
IoT will truly evolve
from single vendor independent solutions to those that talk to each
other leveraging the same data. As the number of players in the
value chain increases, the end-to-end service concept will take
precedence and interconnection will become more important for
access to networks and multiple clouds. Going forward, the
objective will be to relieve pressure on corporate-centric networks
by distributing the traffic more broadly as well as to better
control the performance of the streaming IoT information for more
real-time business and operational insight.
For additional insights on Equinix 2017 Predictions visit 7
Predictions For 2017: The Year of Digital Transformation [Blog]
Additional Resources
Predictions 2016: More Interconnection, More Insights, More
Possibilities - Part 1 [Blog]
Connectivity to Conquer New Demands for Capacity, Security and
Efficiency in 2016 - Part 2 [Blog]
About Equinix
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading
businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the
most interconnected data centers. In 40 markets across five
continents, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new
opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud
strategies. www.equinix.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ
materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking
statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but
are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and
constructing IBX centers and developing, deploying and delivering
Equinix services; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to
the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into
Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenue from customers in
recently built out or acquired data centers; failure to complete
any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time;
competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to
generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay
new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business
from our key customers; and other risks described from time to time
in Equinix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly and annual reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which
are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume
any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained
in this press release.
Equinix and IBX are registered trademarks of Equinix, Inc.
International Business Exchange is a trademark of Equinix, Inc.
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/7-predictions-for-the-connected-enterprise-in-2017-300378914.html
SOURCE Equinix, Inc.