Intelligent Data Centres Issue 28 | Page 6

C a new data centre to Frankfurt , Germany , to serve customers
E announced the completion of the construction of AM7 phase 3 , an expansion of Equinix ’ s AM7 International
NEWS

Cisco announces new data centre to serve collaboration customers in the region

NEWS isco announced that it is bringing

C a new data centre to Frankfurt , Germany , to serve customers

using its Collaboration platform , Webex , in the European Union ( EU ) and the Europe , Middle East , Africa and Russia ( EMEAR ) region . The new data centre in Frankfurt is scheduled for operation by end of June 2021 . Over the past months , public and private actors from all sectors expanded telework to provide vital citizen and business services . The rapid Digital Transformation that occurred with the shift to remote working , combined with the need to keep distributed teams connected have increased the demand for cloud-based collaboration platforms . Since the beginning of the pandemic , the use of digital collaboration tools , such as Cisco Webex , has increased by 74 %. Webex alone has grown to nearly 600 million participants quarterly on average .
Since the pandemic , Webex has continued to help businesses by enhancing the smart workplace and providing numerous digital solutions .
Eliminating language barriers is a key step to enabling a truly global , hybrid workforce . Since March 2021 , Webex customers can preview real-time translations from English into 100 + languages .
In 2021 , Cisco is scaling and unifying Cisco Webex data centres to provide customers with more flexibility . The new data centre in Frankfurt , Germany , is part of this effort and complements existing data centres in the region , providing additional opportunities to host data in the EU .

Equinix expands in Amsterdam to support increased interconnection needs

quinix , the world ’ s digital infrastructure company , has

E announced the completion of the construction of AM7 phase 3 , an expansion of Equinix ’ s AM7 International

Business Exchange ( IBX ) in Amsterdam . The US $ 63 million investment boosts the capacity for further digitisation of local and international customers . To date , Equinix has invested over US $ 1 billion into its data centres in Amsterdam . digital hub such as Amsterdam , where many service providers are at the heart of thriving ecosystems , there is a continuous need for growth .
Equinix continues to invest in the Netherlands to support the country ’ s many emerging technology-driven industries , including financial services , healthcare , manufacturing , content & digital media and the public sector . With data generation and analysis continuing to rapidly increase across these industries , the need to reduce complexity is growing . Traditional network architecture no longer suffices ; companies need to implement comprehensive digital architectures to access , store , exchange and analyse data efficiently .
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic , the urgency for digital leaders to ensure their businesses have robust digital infrastructures and strategies in place is more pronounced than ever . Directly and securely connecting to wide-ranging business ecosystems is vital for competitive advantage . The demand for digital service providers is rising , with IT leaders recognising that interconnection is a key factor in Digital Transformation . In a
6 www . intelligentdatacentres . com