What led to the idea of offering a multi-service interconnection platform that went beyond peering?
Harald Summa
From 2016 onward, a fundamental idea of not only simple peering, but offering a multi-service interconnection platform was born—the DE-CIX service world. We understood that only peering will not be enough to help the digitization of the world. There were ideas around Cloud Computing and other such services that needed the support of a neutral exchange platform. We are starting to think from peering into services. As of today, we have a service platform that we call the interconnection platform.
Journey to the Cloud
A key part of the service platform that we have is the DE-CIX cloud exchange offering. We offer connectivity to over 50 Cloud operators globally. Whether you connect to a DE-CIX service platform in Germany, the US or in India, you can access all the Cloud operators seamlessly. There will be a significant development in this realm over the next several years, because everything will move in some way or the other to the Cloud. To bring the Cloud and the users together, you must have an exchange. Enterprises need to connect to multiple Cloud providers, and they need to do so in an easy and scalable way.
DE-CIX service platform can enable customers to connect to multiple Cloud providers with one access to the exchange platform. As companies understand the need to connect seamlessly to multiple Cloud providers, they will design their networks to achieve that and ensure that they are connected to an aggregation point where they can reduce complexity and save costs and resources. That’s what we are developing for our customers and we expect the demand to rise in the next 5 to 10 years.
IVO Ivanov
Beyond the Cloud, ‘Federation Services’
Cloud is an integral part of almost every network strategy. Beyond Cloud, we see a huge demand for further interconnection services. DE-CIX is preparing for these services, which will deliver along the market demand. These are the next level of interconnection services for the enterprises beyond the Cloud services. We call these ‘Federation Services’ for different types of industries such as finance, healthcare, automotive, and for the educational and public sector.
Digitization is everywhere and what we have understood over the past couple of weeks, because of the Covid-19 crisis, is not only the importance of digital services and applications, but also the importance of digital infrastructure. It is the underlying digital infrastructure that keeps our private lives and business lives operational.