Equinix invests US$85mil in Singapore data centre

• Fourth data centre is scheduled to open in 4Q19
• SG4 will offer an initial capacity of 1,400 cabinets in the first phase

EQUINIX, Inc, a global interconnection and data centre company, on Jan 8 unveiled plans to expand Platform Equinix with the construction of its fourth International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Singapore, called SG4.

The new facility will provide interconnection and premium data centre services to help businesses with their IT transformation and cloud adoption initiatives, while also supporting the digital infrastructure of Singapore.

The new US$85 million seven-story data centre is scheduled to open in 4Q19, offering an initial capacity of 1,400 cabinets in the first phase.

As an industry leader in Singapore, Equinix has deepened its investments to support the country’s Smart Nation plan, reflecting the company’s confidence in Singapore’s future as a digital hub in Asia.

According to the second volume of the Global Interconnection Index, a market study published by Equinix, Singapore’s Interconnection Bandwidth capacity – a measurement of direct and private data exchange between businesses – is expected to more than quadruple by 2021, reaching 394 Tbps at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47%.

“At the heart of digital business in Asia-Pacific, Singapore is a crucial hub for many organisations in the region, generating skyrocketing demand for cloud and interconnection services.

“With interconnection accelerating across the Asia-Pacific region, the new SG4 IBX data centre will create more opportunities for businesses, both locally and regionally, to interconnect with their customers, partners and stakeholders to achieve digital success, further enhancing the digital economies across Singapore and the region,” said Equinix Asia-Pacific president Samuel Lee.

With an initial investment of US$85.3 million (S$116.6 million), the first phase of SG4 will provide more than 45,400 square feet (approximately 4,220 square meters) of colocation space, offering an initial capacity of 1,400 cabinets.

The facility is planned to accommodate more than 4,000 cabinets at full build out, with a total colocation space of more than 132,180 square feet (approximately 12,280 square meters).

The new SG4 will be strategically situated at the East of Singapore in one of the country’s five data centre clusters – Tai Seng Industrial Estate – providing location diversity from the three existing Equinix IBX data centers in Singapore. The facility is owned by Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT), a leading industrial real estate investment trust listed in Singapore.

Directly connected to the three existing Equinix IBX data centres in Singapore via low-latency dark fibre links, the new SG4 IBX will enable customers to securely interconnect with approximately 600 companies from different industries, including financial services, cloud services, biomedical sciences, IT, communications, media, physical sciences and engineering.

This also includes a broad range of network services from more than 200 global networks and more than 150 cloud and IT service providers.

Today, the three Equinix IBX data centres in Singapore comprise more than 445,000 square feet (approximately 41,400 square meters) of colocation space. In 3Q18, Equinix announced the completion of an expansion of the SG3 IBX data centre in Singapore that nearly doubled the size of the facility.

As part of Equinix’s commitment to its long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy and lowering its carbon footprint for its global platform, the Equinix SG1 IBX data centre is BCA-IDA Green Mark certified, while the SG2 and SG3 IBX data centres have received the GoldPLUS and Platinum awards, respectively.

SG4 will also provide software-defined interconnection through the Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric (ECX Fabric) to more than 1,300 businesses including some of the largest cloud service providers (CSP) among them Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud and Tencent Cloud.

Customers can use the ECX Fabric APIs or portal to find and connect to the aggregation of companies and ecosystems at Equinix on demand, locally or in other metro areas.

This includes on-demand connectivity to ECX Fabric customers globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia (Sydney, Melbourne and Perth), Hong Kong and Japan (Tokyo and Osaka). 

Currently, the global footprint of Platform Equinix spans 200 IBX data centres across 52 markets and 24 countries, providing data centre and interconnection services for more than 9,800 of the world’s leading businesses.

In Asia-Pacific, Equinix has 40 IBX data centers across key metros including Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.