Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) says it will spend $55 million to add a third International Business Exchange (IBX) data center in Osaka, Japan.
The upcoming OS3 facility, scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2021, will be located close to major internet and peering exchanges and offer direct, low-latency connections to the Kansai region of Japan, including such cities as Kyoto and Kobe as well as Osaka.
The initial phase of construction will provide 900 cabinets and more than 33,000 square feet (approximately 3,070 square meters) of colocation space. Once fully built out, OC3 will support 2,500 cabinets with a total colocation space of approximately 89,340 square feet (more than 8,300 square meters), says Equinix. Users will have access to the Equinix Fabric and Platform Equinix for connectivity.
"As a large metropolitan area with many global and locally based enterprises, Osaka has emerged as a significant market,” commented Kuniko Ogawa, Managing Director, Equinix Japan. “In the past years, we have seen rising demand for secure, high-performance, and low-latency connectivity in the Kansai area. With our planned OS3 IBX data center, backed by our global footprint and vast array of services offered on Platform Equinix, we are set to expand our ability to bring together and interconnect the infrastructure that businesses need to fast-track their digital advantage."
Equinix notes that it previously announced a plan to form a joint venture with GIC to develop and operate hyperscale data centers in Japan. The three initial facilities in the joint venture include one in Osaka and two in Tokyo. The company did not state that OC3 is part of the joint venture, as reported by Stephen Hardy at CablingInstall.com's sister publication, Lightwave.
"With the rising adoption of digital transformation, together with the acceleration of advanced technology such as AI and IoT, we are expecting a strong growth of demand for digital infrastructure in Japan, despite the short-term economy slowdown amid COVID-19,” asserts Mimei Ito, research manager, IT services, at IDC Japan. “As the service level of digital infrastructure directly impacts the quality of user experiences, the expansion of the Equinix data center in Osaka reflects a rapid increase in the deployment of digital workloads among enterprises and their customers in Japan's second-largest metropolitan area. This is expected to accelerate further through enhanced interconnectivity of cloud ecosystems."
Not including the new facility, the Equinix Osaka campus consists of two IBX data centers that combined offer approximately 64,500 square feet (6,000 square meters) of colocation space in Osaka and serves more than 130 customers.