- Equinix joins a nonprofit association, Gaia-X to develop European sovereign digital infrastructure in Europe.
- Gaia-X aims to advance open information technology standards, as well as APIs to support a regional digital infrastructure that is federated and trustable within Europe or beyond.
- Equinix’s existing customers will also benefit from this partnership when they operate in Europe and will be able to exchange or store data in metros throughout Europe.
American multinational company, Equinix, has informed that it has joined the non-profit association Gaia-X in Europe. The company will lend the association its experience in delivering a global network interconnection platform.
Equinix customers will also take advantage
The Gaia-X association was founded to develop the next generation of digital infrastructure for Europe. It aims to ensure European values of transparency, openness, data protection, and security that are fully embedded. Equinix will lend its neutral traffic exchange points Equinix Fabric, and Equinix Internet Exchange software to Gaia-X.
The European service providers will benefit from this partnership and will be able to operate with each other in a direct form as well as via private connections with their ecosystems rather than exchanging data via the unreliable public internet. Peter Waters, Chief Privacy Officer at Equinix, said;
« In recent years, cybersecurity vulnerabilities have increased due to the vast amounts of data generated by companies as they grow their digital footprints to meet demand. Digital ecosystems should be designed to meet data privacy requirements, but also foster a free, but secure, flow of data, so users can collaborate without needing to worry about security issues. Equinix Fabric, and the diverse service provider partners it hosts, are delivering the same essential elements Gaia-X is working towards. We are pleased to offer our expertise to support Gaia-X’s mission to create a federated and secure data infrastructure where businesses and individuals can retain data sovereignty and ensure their data can be exchanged, securely. »
Equinix customers will also take advantage of this partnership. Without giving up control over it, they will be able to store data in metros throughout Europe. When they need to exchange data, they can move it over Equinix Fabric to other metros within Europe.
The company has more than 10,000 customers, so it is very likely to exchange data with partners that are already at Equinix. If they need to move data outside Europe, they can use Equinix data centers which are landing sites for subsea cables connecting Europe with the rest of the world.
The software system developed through the Gaia-X leadership also provides significant learnings for other regions looking to increase connectivity between countries while maintaining data sovereignty. Equinix will share its expertise in interconnection and vendor-neutral digital infrastructure to support Gaia-X’s goals which are empowering European organizations to use data marketplaces to their full potential and making sure that they will comply with all applicable data regulations in Europe.