Four companies join Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange; rollout set for this spring
FEBRUARY 11, 2010 -- Four companies are joining final phase of the Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange, a service led by Equinix Inc. in Foster City, Calif., to provide a multi-carrier environment for exchanging data among providers of Ethernet services.
The four companies are Easynet Global Services in Beverly Hills, Calif., euNetworks in London, PacketExchange Ltd. in London, and BroadbandONE in Boca Raton, Fla.
Developing the service is entering its final stages as Equinix prepares for the global rollout of the service. Original participants are AboveNet in White Plains, N.Y.; Exponential-e in London; Hibernia Atlantic in Dublin; Level 3 Communications in Broomfield, Colo.; PCCW Global in Herndon, Va.; Reliance Globalcom in Brentford, England; and Tinet in Milan, Italy.
The Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange is scheduled for a phased rollout this spring, starting with the York, Silicon Valley, Chicago, and London metro regions, and will expand to 12 other metro regions throughout the year. Ethernet services are expected to be a $40 billion market by 2014.
Ethernet services provide speed, quality, and cost advantages over traditional networks, yet have been limited to the geographic areas in which a carrier’s network is deployed, Equinix officials say. As a result, carriers have been unable to capitalize on the worldwide demand for universal Ethernet services and have been confined to their preexisting service areas due to the complex and time consuming challenges of establishing several, separate interconnection agreements with other carriers.