Tag: #equinix

CCPC clears Equinix’s acquisition of BT Datacentres Ireland

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has cleared the proposed acquisition of BT Datacentres Ireland by Equinix (Ireland).

Equinix operates six data centres in Dublin, which provide digital infrastructure for cloud, IT, finance, content and media service providers. BT Datacentres Ireland also operates data centres in Dublin, one in Citywest and one in Ballycoolin.

The proposed acquisition was originally notified to the CCPC on January 10, 2025. Following an extended preliminary investigation, the CCPC determined in May 2025 that a full investigation was required to establish if the proposed acquisition would lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the State. This type of detailed further review is commonly referred to as a Phase 2 investigation.

Significant additional information was provided by both parties during the course of the investigation, such that the CCPC is satisfied that the deal can proceed.

The CCPC will publish the full decision on its website within 60 working days, following redaction of confidential information

Information about the merger notification can be found at M/25/003.

The Physical Internet: Dublin schoolchildren step inside Equinix data centre

As the primary school year drew to a close, Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, hosted 4th class students from Scoil Ghráinne CNS in Phibblestown for a behind-the-scenes tour of Equinix’s DB3 data centre in Dublin.

Seventeen students, along with their teachers, met senior Equinix leaders to learn how data centres work and the impact that they have on the students’ daily lives. The education day gave the children the opportunity to walk inside the ‘physical internet’ and discover its far-reaching impact on their own lives, businesses, healthcare and more.

The class also learned about Equinix’s commitment to net zero and biodiversity. Among the initiatives discussed was Equinix’s participation in Digital Infrastructure Ireland’s Orchards in the Community project, which plants orchards for schools and other community organisations to encourage pollination. The children also learned about Equinix’s onsite beehives and bee habitats.

During the visit, the class worked in teams to design collages based on what they imagined the physical internet looks like. Later, Equinix team members took the schoolchildren and their teachers into the heart of the DB3 data centre for an exclusive tour.

Warren Delaney, Ireland Operations Director, Equinix, said: “At Equinix, we are committed to educating the communities around us about our role. For these young people, it is eye-opening to walk inside a data centre and imagine the parts of their daily lives that our industry makes possible. For some, it may even spark an interest in a career in technology. Having started my own career as an apprentice electrician, I know that there are many options and pathways into this industry via our apprenticeship and internship programmes in Ireland. It was fantastic to observe the students so engaged and eager to learn.”

Designer Maximilian Raynor debuts dress made from Equinix data centre materials

Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company, recently collaborated with fashion designer Maximilian Raynor to bring the internet to life at his debut 2025 London Fashion Week show. The opening exhibition of the show saw ‘The Personification of the Internet’ come to life as a dress – encapsulating the physical reality of the hidden networks that power our digital lives.

The dress, made from 3.6kms of cabling used at Equinix data centres, weighed in at 25kg and took 640 hours to make. It highlighted that the internet doesn’t reside in an invisible “cloud”; instead it relies on physical infrastructure that is all around us. It served as a powerful reminder of the intricate and unseen forces behind the intelligent age we live in.

Speaking on his collaboration with Equinix, Maximilian Raynor said: “As a designer, you don’t need access to the finest materials to create something beautiful. Often, the most unconventional materials, paired with a make-do-and-mend approach to design, can achieve really exciting outcomes. Working with these materials and discovering a new technique to bring them to life has been a joy.”

Bruce Owen, EMEA President at Equinix, explained: “By bridging the gap between the physical and virtual, we wanted to create something tangible that highlights the thousands of connections Equinix fosters to support economies and societies daily.

“The design pays tribute to the physical infrastructure that constitutes the internet. Rather than being an inexplicable force, it is a complex, intricate network of cables traversing land and sea, with physical connections housed in Equinix data centres worldwide.

“This campaign is a light hearted exploration of an important topic. We should celebrate the internet’s tangible impact on daily life and business, as well as its crucial role to economies throughout the world. Whether it’s developing new drugs to combat diseases, facilitating online and in-store payments, or keeping people connected across the world, we seek to highlight the value that data centres bring to society and generate global awareness for our rapidly growing and essential industry.”

Planned Equinix data centre will support 10,000 jobs in Ireland

Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company, announces that a planned data centre in Dublin would be capable of supporting 10,000 jobs in Ireland. This follows a newly published report from Equinix, carried out by KPMG, which shows that Equinix’s existing facilities in Ireland currently support businesses which account for 53,000 jobs – or 2% of the workforce in Ireland.

As a colocation data centre provider, Equinix provides digital infrastructure to hundreds of businesses operating in Ireland. In doing so, it plays a major role in supporting the Irish labour force. However, digital infrastructure companies, such as Equinix, are currently being denied new connections to Ireland’s electricity grid. A planned 9.9 MW retail international business exchange facility, in Profile Park, Clondalkin, saw an application for a connection to the grid rejected last August. Equinix estimates that this facility would be capable of supporting businesses in maintaining a further 10,000 jobs in Ireland.

The report calculates that the construction of this facility would generate an economic output of over €200M. Due to the rising demand for digital services, this expansion would also see Equinix grow its own team in Ireland from 150 to 170 and further support local SMEs. The team in Ireland has grown by 20% since 2021, with this growth now also paused due to the current data centre moratorium.

In the report it was found that there were 40,000 visits to Equinix retail colocation data centres in 2023 – equating to a rate of 13 people an hour. Visitors came from a range of sectors including FinTech and financial services, manufacturing, healthcare and life sciences. Customers visit Equinix international business exchanges to maintain their digital infrastructure equipment and ensure they are maximising the value of digital connectivity.

Equinix hosts more than 260 businesses at its existing Irish facilities, including more than 130 Irish enterprises. More than half (56%) of Equinix’s customers in Ireland have their business headquarters in the country, ensuring that Equinix is facilitating the digital activities and growth of local businesses.

Peter Lantry, Managing Director for Ireland, Equinix, said: “This research shows the vast spectrum of companies and industries working with Equinix and using our services. We are supporting companies of all sizes, from multinationals to smaller Irish enterprises, with more than 30 of our customers having fewer than 20 employees. All of these enterprises are not just key for our economic growth, but vital in our daily lives, too. Innovation is happening every day in Equinix, shown by the number of people using our data centres as a digital hub on a daily basis.

“Digital infrastructure is essential in supporting Ireland’s workforce – especially with the rise in data processing including AI activity, and hybrid and remote working – and it is only set to grow in importance. At Equinix, we want to continue supporting businesses and economic growth in Ireland, but we are now at the point where multinational companies are choosing to base themselves elsewhere due to our ongoing national grid crisis. We have the ability and technology to operate flexibly off the grid, meaning we can be self-sufficient when the grid is at capacity. By allowing Equinix to provide this service to the grid, Ireland can save its reputation as a digital powerhouse, supported by some of the best talent in Europe.”

Quside and Equinix to offer quantum random number generation technology to Irish businesses

Quside, a quantum technology company,  is working closely with Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company®, to enable access for businesses in Ireland to the latest quantum random number generation (QRNG) technology. This will help Equinix customers to build the strongest cryptographic foundation to defend against increasingly sophisticated attacks. True QRNG and quantum cryptography provides a vital defence for businesses as AI advancements lead to a new era of cybercrime.

Equinix has led the way in facilitating access to quantum computing for businesses in Ireland recently, announcing partnerships with Oxford Quantum Computing and Alice & Bob in 2023.

The unusual concept of randomness in cybersecurity is known as entropy. In cryptography, entropy creates completely unpredictable strings of random numbers, making it exceptionally difficult for bad actors to predict patterns and hack into systems. Entropy, which can only be produced by hardware, is at the foundation of security, but poorly generated entropy can lead to insecure and vulnerable systems.

Through its globally interconnected Equinix Fabric network, Equinix enables businesses worldwide to connect with this highly innovative and robust cybersecurity solution on high-speed, low-latency, and private network connections. By allowing seamless communication between quantum entropy systems and operational data processing infrastructure, Equinix and Quside are lowering the barrier to world-class security for businesses in Ireland, as well as thousands of businesses across the globe.

Equinix already supports a number of quantum businesses as part of its network of over 10,000 customers worldwide. It is well-placed to support businesses such as Quside on their growth journey and lead the transition towards a range of quantum technologies for multiple sectors, including enhanced cybersecurity options and improved power efficiency.

Peter Lantry, Managing Director, Equinix Ireland, said: “Advanced cyber defences such as Quside’s quantum cryptography are becoming increasingly necessary to defend businesses in Ireland, and around the world, from bad actors. Equinix is proud to be a leader in providing businesses in Ireland with access to quantum computing to help them to explore and unlock its potential. Access to this latest cutting edge solution comes at a time when the need for strong, reliable cybersecurity is at an all-time high.”

Carlos Abellan, CEO & co-founder, Quside, said: “Equinix plays a crucial role for customers in facilitating global access to Quside’s unique quantum entropy technology. To truly harness the benefits of Quside’s entropy solution in their cloud transition, customers require secure, private, and scalable infrastructure. Equinix’s IBX data centres offer the perfect scalable solutions that can easily adapt to changing computational demands, allowing our customers to effortlessly connect to and expand their quantum entropy capabilities as needed.”

Operating in the heart of Europe’s bustling interconnectivity network, Quside focuses on key sectors including government, finance, healthcare, telecommunications, and cloud computing. Quside products deliver highly performant, scalable, quality, and measurable quantum entropy and can be used in conventional, post-quantum, and quantum cryptography systems.

Equinix data centres provide the essential infrastructure, security, and connectivity required to support the development and deployment of quantum cryptography and entropy generation systems, enabling organisations to leverage the power of quantum technologies for enhanced cybersecurity and data protection.

Equinix’s Fabric Cloud Router Enabling Enterprises in Ireland to Easily and Efficiently Connect Applications Across Multiple Clouds

Equinix, Inc, the world’s digital infrastructure company, has announced the general availability of Equinix Fabric Cloud Router to its customers in Ireland. The service will help enterprises easily connect applications and data across multiple clouds and on-premise deployments through virtual routing.

Equinix Fabric Cloud Router can help customers simplify their complex cloud-to-cloud and hybrid cloud networking challenges by providing an easy-to-configure, enterprise-grade, multicloud routing service that can be deployed in under a minute. Utilising Equinix’s secure private connectivity, customers can connect applications across public clouds in more locations than any other service, improving application performance, reducing cloud costs and accelerating services to market.

Customers can deploy Equinix Fabric Cloud Router in all 58 Equinix Fabric-enabled markets globally, including Ireland, with low latency connectivity to all major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, as well as hundreds of other service providers like Akamai, ServiceNow and Zoom.

Equinix Fabric Cloud Router, a key component of Platform Equinix®, helps customers meet those demands in four specific ways:

Multicloud Performance – Customers achieve the low latency between all major cloud providers with Equinix’s industry leading cloud-adjacent locations around the world, eliminating the need to backhaul traffic through a remote location. This superior cloud-to-cloud networking performance enables customers to quickly and easily support evolving infrastructure demands, like cloud migrations.

Private Connectivity – By easily deploying private network connections, customers can avoid exposing sensitive data and network infrastructure to the risks of the public internet and support data sovereignty requirements.

Enterprise-Grade – Customers can act with confidence knowing they are supported by a 99.999% uptime SLA and can scale bandwidth and connectivity across clouds without constraint using speeds up to 50Gbps, with hundreds of gigabits of aggregate throughput supported per router.

Lowering Costs – Enterprises can reduce cloud egress costs by up to 75% using private cloud connections rather than egress over the internet. Built-in Equinix Fabric Cloud Router resilience can save IT teams even more by eliminating the need for expensive redundant routers. Delivered as a service, customers can pay only for what they need without being locked into long-term contracts and have the flexibility to scale up and down as needed.

Delivered as a service on demand and in near real time, Equinix Fabric Cloud Router can remove the costs and complexities of owning and operating a physical router or licensing a virtual router. Enterprises can also accelerate their multicloud adoption by avoiding vendor lock-in with Equinix’s cloud agnostic service, eliminating networking constraints and enabling them to choose the right cloud environment and provider for specific workloads.

Peter Lantry, Managing Director for Equinix Ireland, said: “Equinix Fabric Cloud Router helps our customers in Ireland to easily connect applications and data across multiple clouds and on-premise deployments. With data-heavy workloads on the rise, particularly as businesses start to unlock the power of AI, cutting-edge solutions like this will play a key role in the growth of our economy, removing routing limitations and enabling our customers to move data between different cloud providers with more ease than ever before”.

New partnership positions Equinix as a leader in Ireland’s quantum computing movement

Equinix, Inc. the world’s digital infrastructure company, has today announced its collaboration with Alice & Bob, a leading quantum computing company developing one of the most reliable quantum processors on the market. Through the collaboration with Alice & Bob, Equinix customers in Ireland and across the world will benefit from secure access to Alice & Bob’s cutting-edge quantum technology in France, therefore joining an ecosystem of businesses utilising quantum computing to unlock opportunities worth billions of dollars*. This positions Equinix as a leader in the provision of quantum computer access for businesses in Ireland.

Quantum computing is a transformative technology that supports computationally intensive tasks such as simulation, optimisation, machine learning and cryptography. Although still in its early stages, it has the potential to revolutionise industry processes, change our understanding of the universe, and even help slow down climate change by accelerating green innovations and discoveries. Quantum computers have the power and potential to solve problems that would take our best classical computers thousands of years.

Through this collaboration with Alice & Bob, enterprises in Ireland will be able to access Alice & Bob’s patented technology of self-correcting superconducting quantum bit: the cat qubit, the result of cutting-edge research carried out in French and international laboratories. The technology, located in Alice & Bob’s own data centre in France, is uniquely positioned to help businesses to accelerate innovation and futureproof their offerings.

While current quantum computers can suffer from computation errors which prevent them from fulfilling their theoretical promises, Alice & Bob cat qubit allows for a much simpler road to fault-tolerant and universal gate-based quantum computing, with the potential to transform the promise of quantum computing into a decisive commercial advantage.

Théau Peronnin, CEO of Alice & Bob, said: “We are proud that our technology is moving out of the laboratory and into the real world. Equinix is the ideal partner to bring the quantum revolution into society. We are looking forward to helping Equinix customers solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.”

Combining Equinix’s rigorous secure operations with Alice & Bob’s quantum expertise creates the ideal environment to design breakthrough innovations. This synergy will allow companies to discover the power of quantum computing with the peace of mind that their research will remain completely confidential.

Peter Lantry, Managing Director of Equinix Ireland, said: “Businesses, academics and policymakers in Ireland are excited about the promise of quantum computing and the seemingly limitless potential that it holds for our economy, society and the planet. This partnership with Alice & Bob provides a gateway to that technology and with it, opens doors to game-changing innovations.

“Our mission is to support businesses and give them access to the digital tools and ecosystems that will determine their success. This announcement is a shining reflection of that mission and we are immensely proud that through our partnerships with the scientific community, businesses in Ireland can now access quantum technologies more easily than ever before.

“This is where the colocation data centre market, of which Equinix is the global leader, is showing its value. By connecting businesses, people, and the latest technologies, we are at the heart of business innovation and the discoveries that can slow down climate change.”

Industries that rely on high intensity compute power such as sustainable energy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and financial services are among those set to be radically changed by quantum computing by 2035, standing to potentially gain up to $1.3 trillion in value by this date.**

* Quantum Technology Monitor – McKinsey & Company – Page 5

** Quantum Technology Monitor – McKinsey & Company – Page 4

42% of businesses in Ireland plan global expansion, more than international average

More than two-in-five (42%) businesses in Ireland are planning for international expansion in the next 12 months – up 10% on the previous year – according to the Equinix 2023 Global Tech Trends Survey. The research suggests that enterprises in Ireland are being more bullish about expansion versus the average business worldwide. Globally, Equinix found that 32% of businesses have plans to expand internationally in the next 12 months.

Equinix’s survey, which included 100 IT decision-makers in Ireland, explored IT leaders’ perceptions and plans relating to expansion. The survey results follow a period of uncertainty as businesses reassessed their economic future and the potential impact of geopolitics on their operations.  The research found that 79% of enterprises anticipate expansion at some level – either in Ireland, into a new market, or internationally – up from 74% the previous year. Globally, 74% of businesses have plans to expand in the next 12 months.

Highlighting the growth and importance of cloud computing, Equinix’s research found that IT leaders in Ireland are now almost as likely to support expansion virtually as they are physically. The survey found that 44% of businesses with expansion plans will hire IT staff in their new location, while 42% will support the expansion virtually via the cloud. The latter is an increase of 10% on the previous year as more enterprises now see virtual expansion as a cost-effective, flexible element to their overall expansion strategy.

However, these anticipated expansions face external threats such as issues relating to data sovereignty, which has come into focus due to recent geopolitical events. The majority of IT leaders in Ireland (84%) said that the implementation of new, stricter laws would impact their plans. In the most extreme cases, 13% said that strict new data sovereignty laws would mean that they would no longer consider the expansion, while 43% said that they would press ahead with the expansion but it would require major changes and potential delays to their plans. A smaller portion, 28%, said that it would require minor adjustments to their plans, but that they would still go ahead.

Meanwhile, when asked in what areas they felt least prepared to deal with the challenges of complying with incoming or stricter data sovereignty regulations, 70% of IT leaders in Ireland – versus 56% globally – cited inadequate infrastructure.

Peter Lantry, Managing Director for Ireland, Equinix, said: “Our research shows that businesses in Ireland are feeling far more confident about their growth potential this year. With that, we are seeing a marked shift in how enterprises are viewing international expansion. It no longer needs to be a labour-intensive and costly move with boots on the ground. Digital infrastructure is enabling businesses to deploy virtually via hybrid multi-cloud, providing them with the flexibility to scale their operation up and down as needed, without the cost and commitment associated with establishing a physical presence.

“As a leading provider of digital infrastructure for businesses across the globe, Equinix is playing an important role in providing the digital backbone to Ireland’s ambitious export economy as we move towards a truly global, digital world of business.”

John O’Donoghue, Senior Global Solutions Architect, Equinix, said: “Data sovereignty is a critical element in any expansion plan that requires entering new markets. However, it can be a minefield for organisations as they navigate the ever-changing legislative landscape across multiple jurisdictions. To help enterprises with this challenge, last year, Equinix joined the Gaia-X initiative. This is an international nonprofit bringing businesses, the scientific community and political representatives together to confront the challenge of data sovereignty in today’s world. By bringing multiple cloud providers together, we are giving enterprises in Europe the freedom to share their data and services while maintaining data sovereignty.

“Business today is digital and it is vital for every enterprise – whether they are looking to expand internationally or comply with data legislation – to ensure they have the robust digital infrastructure in place to stand out.”

On Wednesday, 20th September, Equinix will host a webinar exploring business growth into new markets. John O’Donoghue, senior global solutions architect at Equinix, will be joined by Niall Kitson, TechCentral.ie editor; and Thanos Chatzis, Kaizen Gaming’s head of technology & infrastructure. Together, they will discuss: What’s getting in the way of your digital expansion plans’? To register for this free webinar, visit www.techfire.ie.

Equinix project explores re-use of waste data centre heat for vital public and community infrastructure

Equinix, Inc., the world’s digital infrastructure company, today announces the launch of a community project that will see it explore new ways to reuse waste data centre heat for vital public infrastructure in Dublin’s Blanchardstown area. Working with Dublin’s energy agency, Codema, a feasibility study will explore how waste heat from Equinix’s data centres could be used to support important facilities in the local community, which includes a hospital, university and local aquatics centre.

The project is part of Equinix’s commitment to drive greater energy efficiencies in its own operations, as well as for the wider community in which it operates. The company has pledged to become climate neutral globally – and in Ireland – by 2030. This will be achieved, in part, by innovative projects and initiatives – such as district heating – that will support the circular economy.

District heating delivers low-carbon heat to buildings through a network of insulated underground pipelines. It is fuel agnostic, which helps to drive down heating costs and ensures security of supply.

In the last three years alone, Equinix, which has four data centres operating in West Dublin, has reduced its Irish data centre carbon emissions by 16%.

This is one of a number of initiatives deployed by Codema to reduce Dublin’s CO2 emissions. By collaborating with Codema on the sustainability project, Equinix hopes to further its progress towards climate neutrality in Ireland while also benefiting the community in which it operates.

Maurice Mortell, Equinix’s Sustainability Lead in EMEA and Managing Director for Ireland, said: “At Equinix, we are relentlessly exploring innovative ways to achieve our commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030. As sustainability lead in EMEA, I have been involved in a number of groundbreaking projects to ensure we are continuously innovating and striving to achieve this goal. Our partnership with Codema will help us to explore new ways in which we can not only work towards our own decarbonisation, but also benefit the community in which we operate and contribute to the circular economy.

“As the world’s digital infrastructure company, we are committed to driving steady economic growth while reducing our carbon footprint – and the footprints of the organisations we work with.

“Codema has been doing admirable work in its goal to decarbonise Dublin. We are delighted to be working with them and look forward to learning how we can continue to support them on their important carbon zero mission.”

Donna Gartland, CEO, Codema, said: “Codema’s mission is to lead the low-carbon transition in Dublin, and one of the ways we have been successfully doing this is by identifying and implementing new innovative solutions to help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We have enough waste and renewable heat available in Dublin to completely move all buildings away from fossil fuel heating, and working with progressive and ambitious industry stakeholders like Equinix enables us to bring these district heating projects to reality.”