Equinix and Ciena Enable On-Demand Virtual Network Capabilities

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. & HANOVER, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Equinix, Inc. EQIX has teamed with Ciena^® CIEN to enable on-demand virtual network capabilities that allow service provider and enterprise customers to quickly provision high-speed, high-capacity network resources whenever they need them. Extending across the U.S., EMEA and Asia-Pacific, these “on-demand” networks allow Equinix customers to benefit from the full promise of cloud — providing access to massive amounts of compute and network resources, exactly and only when needed. For example, a video service provider can provision an on-demand, high-speed connection during a major sporting event to stream low-latency HD video and other bandwidth-intensive applications during peak demand, and then decommission the connection once the event is over, only paying for actual usage. Equinix on-demand services will be supported by a programmable SDN architecture, leveraging Ciena Optical VPN and NFV technologies as well as WaveLogic processors, giving end customers greater flexibility, control and capacity.

Key Facts:

• Continued cloud adoption is creating massive disruptions in how businesses consume IT services, which is driving significant opportunities for Equinix. The cloud infrastructure market is expected to reach $6B in 2015 while the multi-tenant data center (MTDC) market is projected to reach $26.5B in 2014, with an 18 percent compound annual growth rate, according to 451 Research. Networks are strategic to these data centers, and there is a growing demand for more sophisticated interconnection services for multiple networks and facilities.
• Equinix is utilizing Ciena's 6500 platform in its metropolitan networks in the United States, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific providing 100G capabilities today – with a path to 400G and beyond in the future. In addition, Ciena's V-WAN network resource broker and scheduling application as well as its network management capabilities lay the foundation for multi-layer SDN control, allowing Equinix to rapidly create and provision high-speed connections with greater agility and lower costs.
• Ciena's coherent optical technology and software also supports the Equinix Cloud Exchange, a new service that combines the automated interconnection of cloud, network and managed service providers with advanced service orchestration, providing enterprises with simple, scalable and direct access to multiple cloud services. This solution minimizes cloud lock-in and gives Equinix customers the ability to create a private and secure 1Gb or 10Gb connection to transfer data between their own infrastructure and multiple cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
• As part of the Equinix Cloud Exchange fabric this deployment is an excellent example of how Ciena's OP^n® architecture can facilitate network integration within and between data centers to transform connectivity, compute and store into a programmable platform for a variety of new services.

Executive Comments:

• “Many Equinix customers are looking for the ability to expand their networks globally and they require high-speed connections within a metro, or globally, between our IBX data centers. Through our relationship with Ciena, we can offer customers a dynamic and automated interface to the hundreds of network and cloud service providers inside our data centers and meet their needs for next-generation connectivity solutions.”
  - Ihab Tarazi, Chief Technology Officer at Equinix

• “Enterprises and service providers today require ‘on-demand' network capabilities, and market leaders like Equinix are in an excellent position to capitalize on this industry shift. We've worked closely with Equinix to design an intelligent, open and programmable architecture that delivers an elastic, high-speed, high-performance network for inter- and intra- data center connectivity. Equinix Cloud Exchange customers in major markets worldwide will have access to affordable, private connectivity on-demand to support their cloud and network service requirements.”
  - Francois Locoh-Donou, Senior Vice President, Global Products Group at Ciena

Supporting Resources:

• Product Overview: V-WAN
• Product Overview: 6500 Packet-Optical Platform
• Solution Overview: Datacenter Connect
• Product Overview: OneControl Unified Management System

About Equinix

Equinix, Inc. EQIX, connects more than 4,500 companies directly to their customers and partners inside the world's most networked data centers. Today, businesses leverage the Equinix interconnection platform in 32 strategic markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. http://www.equinix.com

About Ciena

Ciena CIEN is the network specialist. We collaborate with customers worldwide to unlock the strategic potential of their networks and fundamentally change the way they perform and compete. Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPⁿ architecture for next-generation networks. We enable a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and provide open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment. For updates on Ciena news, follow us on Twitter @Ciena or on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/ciena. Investors are encouraged to review the Investors section of our website at www.ciena.com/investors, where we routinely post press releases, SEC filings, recent news, financial results, and other announcements. From time to time we exclusively post material information to this website along with other disclosure channels that we use.

Note to Ciena Investors

Forward-looking statements. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof; and Ciena's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties associated with its business, which include the risk factors disclosed in its Report on Form 10-Q, which Ciena filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 11, 2014 Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Ciena's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future and can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.