Colt expands Equinix on-demand partnership in Singapore, Hong Kong

As businesses aim to flex, digitise and stay relevant, the network has become the catalyst for transformation – but managing this infrastructure can be incredibly complex, especially across multiple countries, and in recognition of these dynamics, Colt Technology Services and Equinix have expanded their longstanding collaboration for on-demand services in Singapore and Hong Kong.

The extended agreement is designed to deepen commitments to a global partner ecosystem and meet growing demand across key regions.

It will see businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong now able to access the Colt Technology Services On Demand infrastructure interconnected with Equinix Fabric in the regions, in addition to Spain, Italy, Sweden, UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The On Demand network connects dynamically with Equinix Fabric across Asia and Europe, giving flexible last-mile access to Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) datacentres and in particular to Equinix Digital Services. This is said to allow businesses to have choice, diversity and visibility of their infrastructure to help them succeed in today’s global digital world.

Specifically, businesses will be able to use Colt On Demand to connect in near-real time to their own premises through the Colt On Demand footprint of 31,000 on-net buildings, interconnected through 11 regions to Platform Equinix. This offers end-to-end connectivity to Equinix datacentres and digital services, and the ability for firms to quickly upscale their infrastructure to meet customer requirements and respond faster to rapidly changing market conditions.

Furthermore, Colt Technology Services and Equinix say businesses can now deliver complex digital transformation programmes knowing they have a flexible, resilient, consumption-based infrastructure as a foundation – and also accelerate and optimise their shift to the cloud, eliminating the need for on-premise hardware and supporting ESG initiatives.

Colt said it’s seeing a significant increase in the number of On Demand customers who self-provision their network services, with a high double-digit revenue growth in 2022, and this trend is expected to continue into 2023 and beyond.

The partnership is seen as being able to remove the need to manage multiple partners and connectivity contracts across multiple geographies. Indeed, it is said to permit firms to benefit from access to secure and resilient end-to-end infrastructure after-sales support as part of a single global partner ecosystem.

“The network is the catalyst for transformation, for businesses looking to flex, digitise and stay relevant, but managing this infrastructure can be incredibly complex – especially across multiple countries,” said Colt vice-president for partner development and success Mark Hollman.

“Businesses are already facing headwinds in 2023, and the last thing they need is to be held back by lengthy contracts and inflexible services. In this latest evolution of our longstanding partnership with Equinix, we’ve invested in joint API development to deliver a simplified, automated and improved customer experience across Colt On Demand and Equinix Fabric platforms.”

Equinix vice-president of global technical sales Mark Anderson added: “Combining Colt’s global network with Equinix’s global digital footprint provides enterprises with complete dynamic digital solutions, addressing end-to-end requirements from architecting a global network backbone, to optimising the last-mile experience of users every day. Further expanding and automating this can only be a good thing, and a great opportunity for customers to take their connectivity to critical business partners to the next level.”