Equinix expands to support Singapore's growth

As cloud adoption is accelerating and growing in complexity, businesses increasingly rely on hybrid and multicloud ecosystems for agility and scalability. This is aligned with Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, which is driving businesses in the country to rapidly undertake digital transformation to build resiliency and stay competitive in the digital economy. Singapore’s advancement toward these goals is positioning the island city-state as a digital hub and gateway for the Asia-Pacific region. With this in mind, the addition of the SG5 IBX to Platform Equinix will provide essential digital infrastructure support and global connectivity that will enable enterprises to build and expand their cloud ecosystems to fast-track their digital advantage.

·       The first phase of SG5 will have a capacity of 1,300 cabinets and approximately 18,400 square feet (1,710 square meters) of colocation space. At full buildout, the facility is targeted to provide approximately 5,000 cabinets, with a total colocation space of close to 129,000 square feet (12,000 square meters).

·       The new purpose-built, nine-story facility will be located at the Tanjong Kling data center park. This will strengthen Equinix’s cross-island presence and location diversity, with four of Equinix’s current IBX data centers strategically spread across the island. 

·       SG5 will be directly connected to the four existing Equinix IBX data centers in Singapore via low-latency dark fiber links and will enable customers to securely interconnect with more than 705 companies in the market. Customers will be able to choose from a broad range of network services from over 200 providers, and interconnect directly to customers and partners in their digital supply chain.

·       As a regional hub and a gateway for Asia-Pacific, Singapore serves as a key location to many multinational corporations in the region. To this end, Equinix has made significant investments into developing Singapore’s digital infrastructure over the years, including an initial investment of US$85.3 million into the establishment of the SG4 IBX, which opened this year.

·       Demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow on a local and regional scale. According to the Global Interconnection Index Volume 4 (GXI Vol.4), a market study published by Equinix, Cloud & IT Services are expected to lead the growth in the Asia-Pacific region, reaching an anticipated 1,374 Tbps by 2023. This reveals that traditional businesses in the region are moving workloads to an edge-first architecture as COVID-19 accelerates digital transformation in Asia-Pacific.

·       Equinix has committed to a long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy and lowering its carbon footprint for its global platform. With 75% renewable energy used in Asia-Pacific in Q3 2020, SG5 follows in this vein and will adopt a number of green features for efficient energy use. These include motion-activated LED lights, automated control and regulation of motors, as well as hot aisle containment and ceiling plenum infrastructure. Recycled NEWater will also be used for cooling purposes, which is an energy-saving process that is aligned with the Singapore government's green initiatives.

·       Equinix Singapore data centers are also certified to meet rigorous environmental and energy management standards. The Equinix SG1 IBX data center is BCA-IMDA Green Mark certified; the SG2 and SG3 facilities have been certified to meet Platinum status; and SG4 is certified to meet GoldPLUS status.

·       SG5 adds to the existing Equinix footprint of four IBX data centers in Singapore, currently providing more than 468,000 square feet (43,500 square meters) of colocation space as well as software-defined interconnection to cloud service providers (CSPs) through Equinix Fabric™—formerly Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric.