Equinix Becomes Data Center Gateway to Oracle Cloud

Oracle has become the latest cloud service provider to join the Equinix Cloud Exchange, the data center provider’s platform for buying and selling cloud services.

The two companies made the announcement during this week’s Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, where Oracle rolled out yet another batch of new cloud services, and where the Redwood City, California-based enterprise software giant’s executives relentlessly drummed up its cloud services in presentations.

Oracle’s cloud is now accessible directly from Equinix data centers in Amsterdam, Chicago, London, Singapore, Sydney, and Washington, DC.

While the list of cloud providers accessible through the Equinix Cloud Exchange includes all the biggest players, Oracle’s special strength is in its massive existing software install base in enterprise data centers. Oracle is promising seamless integration between those on-premise environments with its public cloud services, including Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service, via the cloud exchange.

Direct, private network connectivity to cloud services from Equinix data centers is a way to use public cloud without using the public internet. It is aimed at enterprises that want to use public cloud but cannot because of security, compliance, or performance concerns. Cloud interconnection has become the fastest-growing source of revenue for Equinix.

Other clouds available through the cloud exchange are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM SoftLayer.

Notably, Oracle’s Software-as-a-Service offerings are not part of the agreement. Equinix has been in aggressive pursuit of partnerships with leading SaaS providers so that it could give enterprise customers direct private connectivity to those cloud application services.

Equinix made its first major SaaS partnership with Microsoft, rolling out direct links to Office 365 in September.

Equinix reported third-quarter earnings Wednesday, reporting about $687 million in revenue – 3 percent up year over year – and $41 million in net income, or $0.72 in earnings per share.