What our latest acquisition means for those looking to access and expand in the world’s fifth-largest economy 

Equinix has always focused on expanding its global footprint to match the needs of our customers and partners. Over the years, India has been at the top of their wish list for our market expansion strategy. Today I am delighted to announce that we have responded to this request with our intent to acquire GPX India. The purchase of these sites will increase Equinix’s total global footprint, providing businesses even more ways to securely deploy, directly connect and effectively scale their digital infrastructure in this rapidly growing economy. With GPX India, we will have a start like no other.

Entering one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world

India is a high-growth market, experiencing a rapid digital revolution. It emerged as the fifth-largest economy in the world in 2019, overtaking the U.K. and France, and has the second-largest internet user base in the world.[1] According to Synergy Research, the data center market in India is expected to exceed US$1 billion this year and grow at a 12% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2019-2024, the third-highest rate in the world. All of this represents immense opportunity for continued penetration of internet infrastructure, particularly with the increased uptake of mobile 4G and 5G connectivity.

India is also home to a thriving cloud market, with several major cloud service providers (CSPs) establishing a presence in the market in recent years.  Meanwhile, falling costs, scalability, flexibility, security and improved connectivity are generating increased demand for hybrid multicloud in India, with IDC predicting that by 2021, 50% of the enterprises in India will rely on a mix of on-premises/dedicated private clouds, several public clouds, and legacy platforms to meet their infrastructure needs.[2]  This is a market full of opportunity, not just for Equinix, but for our customers and partners as well.

Acquiring India’s most interconnected data centers

Entering a new market is always a complex endeavor, requiring us to closely examine every scenario under consideration. During the selection process, we took into account a broad list of criteria including our ability to acquire facilities built to the highest quality, offering network density and existing robust ecosystems as well as a high level of interconnection. GPX India ticked all the boxes providing the right location for our customers to deliver their platforms in India.

So why do we feel so strongly that this is the right move for our customers?

Our first step into the Indian market provides us with a footprint based on the foundation of two highly interconnected data centers with a rich ecosystem of more than 200 international and local companies, including more than 130 ISPs and close proximity to subsea cables, GPX India’s two data centers in Mumbai have become key interconnection sites for carriers, content delivery networks (CDNs), content providers, and network and CSPs in India. Its data centers are recognized by customers as being some of the most high-quality, secure and reliable in the market, with enterprise clients relying on these facilities to colocate their mission-critical infrastructure. In fact, GPX India has often described itself as the “Equinix of India.”
 
With GPX India, we will take over a network-dense and interconnection-rich retail colocation business in Mumbai, which is already home to a cloud-dense environment with on-ramps to major cloud services, including Amazon Direct Connect, Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect. The facilities also host key internet exchanges, namely Mumbai IX-DECIX, AMSIX India, Extreme IX and Bharat IX, allowing networks, content providers and large enterprises to exchange internet traffic.

This all means that we will be able to leapfrog ahead in terms of ecosystem and capabilities in this new market – giving, our customers and partners an unparalleled start in India.

Continuing to bring value to our customers

By entering India, Equinix aims to address strong demand from many of our more than 9,500 existing network, content, cloud and enterprise customers looking to expand in this rapidly growing economy. We also plan to help local companies accelerate their digital transformation journeys by deploying their infrastructure, applications and services closer to the edge through our globally interconnected platform of more than 210 International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) data centers. In fact, GPX India has often described itself as the “Equinix of India.” 

This move will deliver a clear path to digital transformation for those in India—including technology, financial services and enterprises—to rapidly and easily interconnect with people, locations, cloud services and data in India and across the world. The acquisition will bring GPX India’s customers into Equinix’s extensive business ecosystem and provides them with connectivity to carriers and cloud service providers all over the world. The acquisition of these sites will increase our total global footprint, providing customers new ways to securely deploy, directly connect and effectively scale their digital infrastructure in India. The acquisition will be Equinix’s first step to enter the market and support our pan-India aspirations and further our ongoing commitment to continuously expand Platform Equinix® to support the digital edge strategies of our customers.

Growing to meet the needs of our customers globally

In service to our customers, we have been focused on continually growing our footprint and expanding our offerings to meet evolving needs. This dedication is reflected in our planned expansion in Canada, the acquisition of sites in Mexico, our purchase of bare metal leader Packet and the signing of our joint venture to develop hyperscale data centers in Japan, as well as the openings of additional sites in Asia-Pacific, such as Melbourne and Singapore, earlier this year. Our continued efforts to expand, regardless of wider external factors, shows our commitment to our customers and employees. I look forward to welcoming the GPX India team to the Equinix family and supporting our customers and partners in this exciting new market.

[1] Digital India: Technology to transform a connected nation

[2] IDC India Report