(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Data center operator and colocation provider Equinix (www.equinix.com) announced on Monday that it has introduced a new marketplace, dubbed the Equinix Marketplace, as a means for customers to connect with, and potentially exchange services with, the customers residing in nearby racks within Equinix’s International Business Exchange data centers.
The company says its overall customer base of more than 4,000 represents a value chain of possible partners, customers and suppliers to each individual customer. The Marketplace, located at marketplace.equinix.com, is designed to expose all of those customers to that value chain.
“For many companies and industries, data centers are not just warehouses for storing large amounts of information—they have become high performance business-exchanges where organizations connect with their ecosystem of partners, suppliers and customers in the digital supply chain,” says Jarrett Appleby, chief marketing officer for Equinix, quoted in the press release announcing the marketplace. “Platform Equinix has long provided the foundation for vertical market communities to connect and interact. In 2010 interconnections among our customers grew 27 percent, demonstrating the importance of locating Internet infrastructure in close proximity to your key ecosystem members. Now the Marketplace makes it even easier for our customers to connect and do business with one another.”
In a video intended to demonstrate the value of the service, Equinix says a buyer might browse possible providers of products and services by a variety of factors, including location and product or service category. They might then visit sellers’ storefronts or contact them directly using the tools provided by the marketplace.
For hosting providers, many of whom are Equinix customers, the new project has a couple of obvious impacts – the first being the opportunity, if located within an Equinix IBX facility, to use the marketplace to seek out services, and potentially make certain services of its own available. The second, in the case of companies that aren’t using Equinix facilities, might be to consider applying some of this matchmaking logic within their own facilities.
The Marketplace announcement comes as Equinix continues to expand globally and in North America. Last week the company announced it would build a third data center in Seattle.
About Liam Eagle
Liam Eagle has worked as a contributor to the Web Host Industry Review since its inception in 2000, and as editor since 2003. He has been editor of the WHIR's print magazine since its launch. His daily involvement in the gathering and reporting of Web hosting news and his regular interaction with Web hosting leaders gives him an uncommonly broad appreciation of the issues and tends facing the business. Through his WHIR blog, Liam spots Web hosting trends and offers opinions on the industry-wide impacts of major developments and the motivation behind big announcements. Follow him on Twitter @liameagle
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