SYDNEY, Australia –  Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world’s digital infrastructure company™, today announced it has been selected by SUB.CO for the landing of the Oman Australia Cable (OAC) directly into its International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) data centres in Perth, Australia (PE2) and Muscat, Oman (MC1). These locations will serve as strategic interconnection points for the 9,800-kilometre subsea cable system. 

Perth has rapidly become an important gateway for subsea cables in Australia as the country has continued a period of accelerated digital transformation. It also serves a strategic role as the west coast connectivity point that provides geographic diversity from Sydney and eastern Australia. Muscat is strategically located between Asia, Africa and Europe, serving as a regional interconnection hub between key global markets, and the OAC is expected to further enhance Oman’s competitiveness in the global digital economy.

OAC, is expected to be completed in Q2 2022 and directly connect Australia with Oman. By providing a direct link between these two countries into Equinix IBX data centres, hyperscalers, enterprise customers and network providers will have access to a dense ecosystem of networks and the lowest latency, and most direct path between Australia and onward into Europe.

Highlights / Key Facts

  • OAC is a three fibre pair system that will deliver cost-effective, reliable, low-latency and diverse capacity between Australia and Oman. This new route complements the existing networks within Australia and provides additional international bandwidth for an ever-increasing need for high-performance connectivity.
  • The dedicated suite of landing station infrastructure in PE2 and MC1 will provide increased security and diverse network entry points for building out OAC’s core network. Equinix’s global experience in deploying landing stations and PE2 and MC1’s proximity to the Indian Ocean and multiple strategic subsea cable systems were important criteria in the selection process.
  • With access to top cloud and network providers around the world, Equinix is a natural destination for subsea cable operators. Today, 41 Equinix IBX data centres are subsea-enabled around the world. When subsea cable systems are linked to cloud and content ecosystems on Platform Equinix®, customers can access more than 3,000 Cloud and IT service providers globally, all key internet exchanges and rich ecosystems of network service providers in Perth and Muscat.
  • Equinix operates 17 IBX data centres across Australia. Equinix completed a US$11million (approx. A$15.6 million) expansion of its PE2 IBX data centre in 2019, bringing enhanced interconnection capabilities to local customers. This facility provides state-of-the-art colocation, as well as a host of advanced interconnection services, enabling virtual interconnections to cloud service providers such as Google Cloud. The Equinix Perth campus will offer customers connecting to OAC long-term colocation capacity to scale their environments. Already a major interconnection point due to geographical proximity and next generation subsea cable connectivity for the ASC and Indigo systems, OAC positions Perth as Australia’s connection point to Europe.
  • Opened in October 2020, Equinix MC1 is located in Barka, South Al Batinah in Muscat, the capital of Oman. It is Equinix’s first data centre in Oman and its fourth in the MENA region. Equinix MC1 benefits from direct connectivity to strategic cable landing stations and subsea cable systems that terminate directly inside the facility. MC1 includes more than 23,600 square feet of colocation space and 725 cabinets. The site also has capacity to grow to more than 2,150 cabinets with future IBX builds.

Quotes:

  • Bevan Slattery, Founder, SUB.CO

"Building OAC was very important for us, as a key new route to mitigate against the risks inherent in systems that traverse from Asia to EMEA via the Malacca Strait. Working with Equinix is another key component of ensuring OAC’s success, given their global capabilities and flexible approach."

  • Jim Clarke, CEO, SUB.CO

“Our customers on the OAC will be able to take advantage of Equinix’s international ecosystem, in Perth and Muscat. Two great brands, working together to deliver amazing outcomes.”

  • Guy Danskine, Managing Director, Equinix Australia

"Perth is an important growth market for Equinix in Australia and a strategic interconnection point into Asia and now MENA thanks to the OAC. We are thrilled to provide our enterprise customers and partners in Australia even greater access to the growing network of global subsea cables, which can give them increased opportunities to expand internationally and compete in today’s fast-growing digital economy.”

  • Kamel Al-Tawil, Managing Director, Equinix MENA

“Rapid growth of the digital economy has driven increased demand for global connectivity and hybrid multicloud solutions in the MENA region. Organizations across various sectors are evaluating their cloud adoption strategies and cloud readiness. At Equinix, we are providing customers direct access to different markets via the best routes. The Equinix Internet Exchange link allows network operators, content providers and enterprises, to leverage a global subsea cable fabric connecting cities, countries, and continents together.”

Additional Resources

  • Learn more about Perth data centres [website]
  • Learn more about Muscat data centre [blog]
  • Equinix submarine cable momentum is accelerating [blog]
  • Learn more about Platform Equinix [website]

-Ends-

About Equinix 
Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world’s digital infrastructure company, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.

About Sub.Co

Founded by industry veteran Bevan Slattery, Sub.co is a specialist consulting and investment company focusing on assisting the development of submarine cable projects and potentially investing in specialist projects alongside infrastructure investment partners.

Previous projects undertaken by the management team include Sydney to Guam Cable (PPC-1), Sydney to Los Angeles (Endeavour & AAG), Singapore to Perth Cable (Indigo West) and Australia’s first transcontinental fibre optic submarine cable (Indigo Central).

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions, unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; a failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

Equinix Media Contacts (Asia-Pacific)
Annie Ho
Equinix
+852 2970 7761
annho@ap.equinix.com
Equinix Media Contact (Australia)
Graham White
Pratar
+61 404 840 533
graham@pratar.com.au 

Send us your press releases to pressrelease.zawya@refinitiv.com

© Press Release 2021

Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release.

The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.