Equinix and Ciena have joined forces to bring service provider and enterprise customers on-demand virtual network capabilities that can allow provisioning of network resources when they need them.
The on-demand networks reach across the US, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, and allow for use-as-you-go cloud networks for Equinix customers.
Francois Locoh-Donou, Senior VP, Global Products at Ciena, said: "Enterprises and service providers today require ‘on-demand’ network capabilities, and market leaders like Equinix are in an excellent position to capitalise 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."
One example of a need for on-demand network connections would be during a televised sporting event being streamed over the Internet.
Equinix said: "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."
The cloud infrastructure market is expected to reach $6bn in 2015 while the multi-tenant data center (MTDC) market is projected to reach $26.5bn in 2014, with an 18% 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.
