Equinix: One Highway To All Clouds
Mar. 20, 2015 3:11 AM ET | About: Equinix, Inc. (EQIX)
Summary
•Cloud Exchange offers direct access to multiple clouds and networks.
•Connections to Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft Azure & More.
•Partner Push Starts Now.
Let's assume you're a CIO that needs to link to multiple cloud providers. Where do you start? An emerging answer involves Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX), the $2.4 billion cloud company that most folks are only now discovering.
Yes, Equinix has roughly 100 data centers and colocation centers across its global interconnection platform. And within the next few weeks, Equinix will open five new data centers -- in London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore and Toronto. The company's total data center footprint? More than 11 million square feet once those new data centers come online.
Have It Your Way
But that's only part of the Equinix strategy. Instead of trying to lock customers into Equinix's own data centers, the company has opened its arms to strategic partners -- essentially linking customers to many of the best cloud service providers worldwide.
During an exclusive interview with me, Equinix Chief Sales Officer Pete Hayes described the company's overall cloud strategy and platform -- known as the Equinix Cloud Exchange. He also pulled back the curtain a bit more on Equinix's just-announced partner strategy.
The Ultimate Onramp to All Clouds?
Equinix Cloud Exchange is a bit like having your own private, secure, high-speed highway to multiple public clouds, notes Hayes.
Indeed, the exchange provides virtualized, private direct connections that bypass the Internet. Using Equinix's portal, customers can provision and manage connections to multiple cloud services and networks -- including Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google Cloud Platform (NASDAQ:GOOG), IBM SoftLayer (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft Azure (NASDAQ:MSFT) and many more.
"As enterprises start to bring workloads out of their own data centers, we provide a location that's network-neutral," says Hayes. "You come in through one port and get access to a variety of cloud providers. We're the highway or mechanism that provides that."
Moreover, an Equinix Performance Hub enhances the performance and availability of the various cloud applications, Hayes asserts.
So far, Equinix's strategy appears promising. Revenues hit $638.1 million in Q4 2014, up 13 percent from Q4 2013. The vast majority of those revenues are recurring -- thanks to colocation, interconnection and managed services.
Next Move
Still, Equinix isn't resting on its laurels. The company is evolving beyond a direct sales model to focus on so-called channel sales -- which involve managed services providers (MSPs), integrators and consultants that assist customers with their IT systems.
Until recently, "we were a 100 percent direct sales force," says Hayes. "But we've stood up our channel partner program in an incredibly short amount of time."
That's no small task. Many tech companies -- from Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) to Dell and EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) -- have shifted from direct sales models to channel models over the past two decades. But the journey can be painful -- especially if the company's direct sales team rejects the partner program, and locks third-party companies out of the sales process.
Equinix has taken steps to avoid such setbacks. "We organized lots of roundtables and lots of sales team meetings," says Hayes. "We made sure our sales team is incented to work with partners. If you really put the customer in the center of what you do, you'll always head in the right direction."
Getting Started
That new direction officially emerged this month. Equinix hired Rackspace, ViaWest and Extreme Networks veteran Christopher Rajiah as VP of worldwide channel partners and alliances.
Rajiah oversees a completely new sales program that pays IT partners to plug customers into the Equinix Cloud Exchange and Performance Hub.
While it's too soon to predict how the partner program will perform, Rajiah has a strong track record for success. He is the rare sales executive who has successfully jumped from traditional IT product sales (hardware sold into corporate networks) toward recurring revenue and cloud business models.
Of course, Hayes is focused on the partner push as well. "It's my top priority for 2015," he says. "For me, it's all about sales enablement across the partner base, and making sure our partners are trained with the right tools."
Already a $2.4 billion company (annual revenues, 2014), Hayes and the Equinix executive team have essentially bet the company on a partner-driven growth strategy. I'll be watching closely to see how this plays out.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3015766-equin...ouds?ifp=0
......change and convergence continues
Mar. 20, 2015 3:11 AM ET | About: Equinix, Inc. (EQIX)
Summary
•Cloud Exchange offers direct access to multiple clouds and networks.
•Connections to Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft Azure & More.
•Partner Push Starts Now.
Let's assume you're a CIO that needs to link to multiple cloud providers. Where do you start? An emerging answer involves Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX), the $2.4 billion cloud company that most folks are only now discovering.
Yes, Equinix has roughly 100 data centers and colocation centers across its global interconnection platform. And within the next few weeks, Equinix will open five new data centers -- in London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore and Toronto. The company's total data center footprint? More than 11 million square feet once those new data centers come online.
Have It Your Way
But that's only part of the Equinix strategy. Instead of trying to lock customers into Equinix's own data centers, the company has opened its arms to strategic partners -- essentially linking customers to many of the best cloud service providers worldwide.
During an exclusive interview with me, Equinix Chief Sales Officer Pete Hayes described the company's overall cloud strategy and platform -- known as the Equinix Cloud Exchange. He also pulled back the curtain a bit more on Equinix's just-announced partner strategy.
The Ultimate Onramp to All Clouds?
Equinix Cloud Exchange is a bit like having your own private, secure, high-speed highway to multiple public clouds, notes Hayes.
Indeed, the exchange provides virtualized, private direct connections that bypass the Internet. Using Equinix's portal, customers can provision and manage connections to multiple cloud services and networks -- including Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google Cloud Platform (NASDAQ:GOOG), IBM SoftLayer (NYSE:IBM), Microsoft Azure (NASDAQ:MSFT) and many more.
"As enterprises start to bring workloads out of their own data centers, we provide a location that's network-neutral," says Hayes. "You come in through one port and get access to a variety of cloud providers. We're the highway or mechanism that provides that."
Moreover, an Equinix Performance Hub enhances the performance and availability of the various cloud applications, Hayes asserts.
So far, Equinix's strategy appears promising. Revenues hit $638.1 million in Q4 2014, up 13 percent from Q4 2013. The vast majority of those revenues are recurring -- thanks to colocation, interconnection and managed services.
Next Move
Still, Equinix isn't resting on its laurels. The company is evolving beyond a direct sales model to focus on so-called channel sales -- which involve managed services providers (MSPs), integrators and consultants that assist customers with their IT systems.
Until recently, "we were a 100 percent direct sales force," says Hayes. "But we've stood up our channel partner program in an incredibly short amount of time."
That's no small task. Many tech companies -- from Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) to Dell and EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC) -- have shifted from direct sales models to channel models over the past two decades. But the journey can be painful -- especially if the company's direct sales team rejects the partner program, and locks third-party companies out of the sales process.
Equinix has taken steps to avoid such setbacks. "We organized lots of roundtables and lots of sales team meetings," says Hayes. "We made sure our sales team is incented to work with partners. If you really put the customer in the center of what you do, you'll always head in the right direction."
Getting Started
That new direction officially emerged this month. Equinix hired Rackspace, ViaWest and Extreme Networks veteran Christopher Rajiah as VP of worldwide channel partners and alliances.
Rajiah oversees a completely new sales program that pays IT partners to plug customers into the Equinix Cloud Exchange and Performance Hub.
While it's too soon to predict how the partner program will perform, Rajiah has a strong track record for success. He is the rare sales executive who has successfully jumped from traditional IT product sales (hardware sold into corporate networks) toward recurring revenue and cloud business models.
Of course, Hayes is focused on the partner push as well. "It's my top priority for 2015," he says. "For me, it's all about sales enablement across the partner base, and making sure our partners are trained with the right tools."
Already a $2.4 billion company (annual revenues, 2014), Hayes and the Equinix executive team have essentially bet the company on a partner-driven growth strategy. I'll be watching closely to see how this plays out.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/3015766-equin...ouds?ifp=0
......change and convergence continues
