Co-authored by Paul Mason

The enterprise data center is not disappearing; instead, it's evolving and disaggregating. A Cisco report estimates that 82 percent of companies have adopted hybrid cloud environments and 47 percent deploy multicloud architectures[1]. This transformation finds forward-looking enterprises making the strategic decision to reduce their legacy and static data center footprints in favor of a much more modern and distributed solution.

For many Cisco customers, the solution is to create an interconnection-oriented architecture at a colocation provider such as Equinix. Equinix provides more than just power and space for non-cloud destined workloads; Equinix also offers the highest density of interconnection to cloud and SaaS providers. This interconnection rich ecosystem delivers improved workload performance and user experience via high bandwidth connectivity with ultra-low latency, minimizing network bottlenecks. Customers adopting colocation with an interconnection strategy become well positioned to move at the speed their digital business requires and drive a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Recognizing this, Cisco and Equinix are implementing a multiyear, strategic partnership to deliver the products and services that support the transition to hybrid, multicloud, distributed, and edge architectures, including offering a seamlessly integrated portfolio of SD-WAN, security, and collaboration solutions. In addition, we are both cloud-agnostic, supporting the cloud providers our mutual customers choose.

Cisco SD-WAN and Equinix

As many enterprise customers choose to modernize their architectures to take full advantage of colocation and cloud, they need new connectivity options. Enter the integration with Equinix Network Edge and Fabric through Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Interconnect with Equinix (Figure 1.).

Equinix and Cisco have partnered to deliver on-demand multicloud connectivity, reducing deployment time from months to minutes. The partnership enables Cisco vManage to provide single-pane-of-glass management and configuration capabilities to run Cisco SD-WAN fabric on Equinix Network Edge and Equinix Fabric. With Equinix Fabric, customers access a highly available-up to 99.999%-backbone with connections that encompass 20+ countries, five continents, and hundreds of data centers. Meanwhile, latency is reduced, removing congestion risk by sending packets through a private backbone.

Cisco Secure Firewall and Equinix Network Edge

Cisco Secure Firewall is validated to run on Equinix's Network Edge platform, allowing companies to interconnect a digital core, integrate a digital ecosystem, and interact at the digital edge. These capabilities enhance agility, scale, and resilience.

Here are several use cases:

• Quickly scale remote-user VPN access
• Securely connect to cloud and segment network traffic
• Securely connect to multicloud architecture without physical infrastructure
• Create secure internet egress sites around the globe

Of course, customers can also deploy the full Cisco security portfolio, which will greatly improve their security posture when deploying infrastructure at Equinix.

Cisco Webex and Equinix

It is a hybrid work world and businesses have clearly realized that optimizing the collaboration experience can improve productivity, which is key to success. However, connecting over the public internet can degrade the user experience, because it is not possible to guarantee network bandwidth and latency in this environment.

In response, Webex Edge Connect provides a dedicated, managed, quality of service (QoS)-enabled IP link from your premises to a Webex Meetings Data Center location, achieved by direct peering through Equinix Fabric. By bypassing the internet, Webex Edge Connect offers a better user experience by reducing network congestion, packet loss, jitters, and delay.

Together, Webex Edge Connect and Equinix Fabric offer two important benefits:

• Enhanced meeting quality: Conducting your core business over the internet does not interfere with meetings and vice-versa. As a result, you are assured of a reliable, cost-effective, and secure meeting experience.
• Added security: Webex Edge Connect direct peering insulates your meetings from the volatility of the Internet and guards against potential threats associated with the public internet.

The shift to agile networks

Historically, networks were built to support applications running in a private data center and based on a clear understanding of how network traffic flowed. However disruptive change has occurred; what was centralized is now distributed, what was static is now flexible, and what was once isolated is now connected.

The Cisco-Equinix partnership has and will continue to innovate and deliver solutions that enable companies to take full advantage of interconnected colocation to achieve their hybrid and multicloud objectives. From optimizing connectivity to SaaS and Cloud, to securing environments end-to-end, to enhancing hybrid work, Cisco and Equinix have the solutions.

To learn more about how Cisco and Equinix can help you achieve an interconnected colocation data center solution, visit our partnership site here or speak to your Cisco and Equinix sales rep.

Learn more about the Cisco and Equinix Partnership

[1] Cisco 2022 Global Hybrid Cloud Trends Report

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