Equinix connects with Japan’s largest Internet exchange provider

Overhead cable trays at an Equinix facility

In a new deal announced Monday, global colocation provider Equinix will host a point of presence for Japan’s largest Internet exchange service provider at one of its International Business Exchange data centers in Tokyo.

Once Japan’s Internet Multifeed expands the Japan Network Access Point peering fabric into Equinix’s TY2 facility, Equinix customers will be able to directly exchange IP traffic with JPNAP customers, who will gain direct access to both of the U.S. company’s IBX data centers in Tokyo. The two IBX facilities, located in Heiwajima and Shinagawa, are connected by Equinix’s IBXLink service.

“With the increasing strategic importance of the Japan market, especially for international content providers, the critical mass of participants and the significant traffic volume at JPNAP represents a high-quality platform for Equinix’s global customers seeking to access this important market,” Equinix Chief Marketing Officer Jarrett Appleby said in a statement.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re offering the most interconnection potential for our existing customers, as well as additional customers,” Equinix Director of Peering Services Eric Troyer said. Since JPNAP is the largest public Internet exchange provider, “it makes absolute sense to give our customers direct access” to the network.

Internet Multifeed (JPNAP operator) will benefit from the deal by giving its customers access to markets Equinix serves around the world. “One thing Equinix has done overtime is allowing … local companies to go into regions in which they haven’t previously operated,” Troyer said. With the new interconnection, “we’re able to bring U.S. and European network customers into Japan.”

Equinix, based in Foster City, Calif., operates 45 data centers in 18 markets in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Troyer said Equinix’s emphasis on carrier diversity was what differentiated it from some of its major competitors, such as Savvis, a global colocation provider which also operates a data center in Tokyo. A local company that had a model most similar to Equinix’s was @Tokyo, a carrier-neutral data center service provider, he said.

Equinix’s initial expansion into Japan took place in 2002, when the company merged with i-STT – Internet infrastructure service subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia and with data center services provider Pihana Pacific. One of former Pihana data centers is now an Equinix facility. Pihana also operated data centers in Sydney, Australia, and Honolulu, Hawaii, Troyer said.

Japan is a strategically important market because of significant broadband penetration and its position as a “jumping board into Asia-Pacific operating region.” Japan acts as sort of a “relay junction” for many Asia-Pacific fiber routes.

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