Equinix Expands in Downtown Chicago With Launch of New IBX Shared Suite Data Center

[Bruce Eric Montgomery]

CHICAGO--Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX), a provider of global data center services, today announced that the company has signed a long-term lease for a new 19,400 square foot International Business Exchange™ (IBX) data center facility in downtown Chicago that will be used to launch a new offering from Equinix – IBX Shared Suite.

The company also opened the previously announced expansion of its Chicago 2 (CH2) International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data center. Both expansions are aimed at accommodating the strong growth from financial trading companies seeking low-latency proximity trading solutions in the downtown Chicago area. The expansions will bring Equinix’s total footprint in the Chicago area to 538,000 square feet, solidifying the company’s leadership as the largest provider of network-neutral colocation space in the Chicago area.


The new Chicago 4 (CH4) IBX Shared Suite will be located in the Lakeside Technology Center, the same facility as the company’s two current downtown centers, CH1 and CH2. The CH4 IBX Shared Suite’s proximity and direct connectivity to the 87 networks, carriers and dark fiber providers in Equinix’s existing Chicago centers, as well as Equinix Financial eXchange, the established community of execution venues, buy and sell side firms and technology utilities, makes CH4 an ideal data center solution for financial trading companies seeking low-latency trading solutions. CH4 will also be directly linked to Equinix’s CH3 center, located in Elk Grove Village, IL, offering direct connectivity between customers in downtown and suburban Chicago. CH4 will provide approximately 600 additional cabinet equivalents and is expected to open for customers in Q1 of 2010. Equinix intends to invest less than $10.0 million of capital expenditures in the CH4 expansion. The CH2 IBX center expansion adds 200 cabinet equivalents.


With 37 percent year-over-year revenue growth, Chicago is one of Equinix’s fastest growing markets. To serve the market, Equinix has pursued a strategy of operating in both the downtown and suburban areas. This enables enterprises and other customers seeking larger footprints to locate at the company’s suburban CH3 center, while providing network service providers and financial customers seeking dense interconnection points with downtown locations that host a valuable concentration of their strategic business partners and customers.


The IBX Shared Suite offering will provide additional customer colocation space in close proximity to the ecosystem of companies participating in Equinix’s metro area IBX centers. These smaller centers will feature Equinix’s standard product offering for cabinets, power, cross connects, and SmartHands service. IBX Shared Suites will be configured as shared space versus the independent cages that Equinix offers in its traditional IBX centers.


About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX) provides global data center services that ensure the vitality of the information-driven world. Global enterprises, media, content and financial companies, and network service providers rely upon Equinix’s insight and expertise to protect and connect their most valued information assets. Equinix operates 42 International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centers across 18 markets in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

www.equinix.com.