Equinix is expanding its Equinix Fabric and Network Edge platforms with a broader ecosystem of partners and new capabilities designed to create a single interconnection between physical and virtual devices. 

Enterprises and IT professionals can now connect between physical and virtual devices located in Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers, including colocation facilities, automated bare-metal servers, and virtual routers, firewalls, and SD-WAN gateways available on Network Edge, according to the company.

Equinix said customers can now connect to any other customer on its platform, and expand their respective interconnection reach by at least threefold due to its latest expansion efforts. That boost means Equinix Fabric customers can now connect to more than 10,000 clouds, networks, and other customer ecosystems. 

Equinix Fabric, which first launched three years ago as Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric, has also been updated to allow automated access to more network service providers, including Aryaka, AT&T, BT, China Mobile, Cloudflare, Colt, and Verizon Business.

“Cloud connectivity remains a top priority for Equinix customers, but as their cloud connection and consumption preferences continue to change and grow, Equinix is once again innovating Equinix Fabric to stay in lock step with their business aspirations,” John Hanahan, senior director of product management at Equinix, wrote in response to questions.

“No longer just for cloud connectivity, Equinix Fabric establishes a globally connected footprint of services that enables digital leaders to transform their businesses as they connect to everything and everyone that matters to their business,” Hanahan added.

The company said it added 22 cloud on-ramps during 2020, enabling businesses to privately connect to public cloud giants including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud. Equinix added additional on-ramps with Salesforce, Cisco Webex, and Zoom, bringing its total number of on-ramps to more than 180.

Equinix’s virtual network function (VNF) services platform has also been expanded to make Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect available on its Network Edge Service. Those SD-WAN and virtual networking services join many others available on Equinix, including those from Cisco, CloudGenix, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Versa Networks, and VMware.

Equinix Fabric is now available in 49 metropolitan areas across five continents, and the company said it will reach 56 markets by the end of 2021. Network Edge is available in 11 markets today, and will soon reach four additional markets. 

The ongoing and resurgent COVID-19 global pandemic has been driving greater demand for Equinix interconnection and edge services, and these latest updates, according to Hanahan, allow “customers to architect a network that has the flexibility needed to respond to increasingly dynamic business environments.”