Equinix Seoul SL1: Equinix Opens New Data Center in Seoul

Aug 30, 2019 | Posted by Eric Advinci

Equinix opened a new data center in Seoul on August 30th 2019. The data center, SL1, is Equinix's first facility in Korea. 

South Korea has a high tech economy but has been neglected by the large international data center providers such as Digital Realty, Equinix, Cyxtera, and STT.  

Equinix's entrance into the market will raise the profile of Seoul in the minds of both data center buyers and providers. In the next few years we expect other providers will enter the market. 

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the global interconnection and data center company, today announced the opening of its first International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center in Seoul, South Korea. Known as SL1, this carrier-neutral data center offers a wide array of interconnection solutions and is designed to help accelerate digital transformation and hybrid multicloud migration for local and global businesses.

The opening of SL1 IBX data center comes at a time when South Korea is embarking on the next chapter in solidifying its leadership as one of the most vibrant economies of the digital era. The country’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Response Plan[1], launched in 2017, outlined the rollout of critical next-generation infrastructure, such as the establishment of a national 5G network and creation of new industries in areas of blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the focus today on fostering a data-driven economy that will continue to drive the country’s growth.     

As South Korea strives to make its industries more intelligent and innovative to secure future growth, the need for infrastructure that is globally connected and closer to the digital edge is greater than ever. As part of Platform Equinix®, the SL1 IBX data center will help local and global companies across the enterprise, service provider, cloud and content industries to seize opportunity amid the digital and cloud-first era.

Highlights / Key Facts
  • Located near Seoul’s central business district in the area of Sangam-dong, also known as Digital Media City, the SL1 IBX data center provides more than 19,200 square feet (approximately 1,790 square meters) of colocation space, offering an initial capacity of 550 cabinets in the first phase. The facility is expected to provide a total capacity of 1,000 cabinets and colocation space of more than 34,200 square feet (approximately 3,200 square meters) when future expansion is complete. 
  • SL1 offers a wide range of interconnection options, including Cross Connect, Equinix Connect and Equinix Internet Exchange™ at launch, enabling businesses in South Korea to establish private and direct connections with their customers, partners and service providers. 
  • In addition, SL1 will offer Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric™ (ECX Fabric™), a software-defined interconnection service that enables any business to connect between its own distributed infrastructures and more than 1,600 other businesses on Platform Equinix, by Q1 2020. This also includes the world’s largest network service and cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, and more. 
  • Platform Equinix is home to more than 1,800 networks and over 2,900 cloud and IT providers globally. The opening of SL1 will help address the demand for carrier-neutral, network-dense data center services from companies in South Korea as they seek to embrace digital transformation and hybrid multicloud migration. 
  • Leading global financial technology and service provider IPC is among the first customers to deploy in SL1 to enhance security and connectivity of its services for customers in South Korea. Since 2007, IPC has utilized Platform Equinix to expand its network infrastructures across Asia-Pacific, the US and Europe. The company also leverages ECX Fabric to provide its customers with secure, seamless and global access to cloud service providers to increase infrastructure flexibility, without compromising security or performance. 
  • With a global footprint of more than 200 IBX data centers, Equinix has been supporting Korean conglomerates to expand their global business over the years. Through Platform Equinix, Korean companies such as NAVER Business Platform have been able to establish secure and direct connections to their customers, partners and the world's leading services providers. 
  • Equinix has committed an investment of more than US$535 million for 11 new-build or expansion projects opening in 2019 in key metros across Asia-Pacific, including Hong Kong, Melbourne, Perth, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo. 
  • With the addition of SL1, Equinix now operates 43 IBX data centers across 13 markets in Asia-Pacific. Globally, Platform Equinix comprised of more than 200 IBX data centers across 53 markets and 25 countries, providing data center and interconnection services for more than 9,800 of the world’s leading businesses. 

0 Comments