Equinix Digital Infrastructure

In business since 1998, Equinix operates 240 data centers worldwide in more than 70 metropolitan areas in 32 countries. It provides secure, low-latency network support services to stock markets, payment card networks, central banks, national payment systems, Tier 1 banks and other clients. All top providers of cloud-based computer services are Equinix clients.

The company provides interconnection services between more than 10,000 companies and 1,250 financial institutions. Among its customers are half of the Fortune 500 and more than a third of the Forbes Global 2000.

Equinix data centers are neutral locations that operate on 95% renewable energy. It charges rent for space and power, saving companies the expense of operating their own centers, including maintaining redundancies and regular technology updates. Customers provide the software that leverages Equinix network capacity to enable faster deployment of their proprietary products and support services.

Financial services account for less than 20% of Equinix’s business. However, over the last seven years, the company has pursued clients in banking and payments as opportunities were presented to provide an alternative to legacy mainframe computer systems operated in-house and to take advantage of the steady growth in importance of APIs.

All global payment card networks except one are customers. The financial services ecosystem at Equinix protects their digital infrastructure while never seeing or touching the data.

The latest opportunity for Equinix is real-time payments. The company houses the national payment systems of 10 countries and provides customers private connectivity to the real-time payment platforms. Equinix could be the underlying platform that service providers use to build a cross-border real-time payment system.

INTERVIEWED FOR THIS ARTICLE

Lance Homer is Global Head of Digital Payments and Banking at Equinix in South Jordan, Utah, lhomer@equinix.com, www.equinix.com.