Equinix has opened its first International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Chennai, named CN1, to support India’s digital growth and AI (AI) ecosystem.
The facility, located on a six-acre site in Siruseri, will be interconnected with Equinix’s Mumbai campus, which currently consists of three IBX data centres.
The initial investment of US$69 million provides 800 cabinets of capacity, with long-term plans to expand to 4,250 cabinets.
The facility is designed for 99.999% uptime and will offer the company’s interconnection services, including Equinix Fabric, which enables enterprises to use hybrid multicloud services.
CN1 is also prepared to support liquid cooling technology, required for high-density and compute-intensive workloads associated with AI and other advanced technologies.
As Tamil Nadu positions itself as a centre for research, innovation and AI investment, Chennai is becoming an important hub for these developments.
This new data centre is intended to support the state’s role in India’s wider digital transformation and technological ambitions.
India continues to prioritise the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI, quantum computing, blockchain and edge computing, which require significant computing power and data resources.
The opening of CN1 is described as a step towards building the necessary digital infrastructure for these advances.
Equinix currently serves more than 300 companies in India, including network service providers and five internet exchanges.
Its Mumbai campus hosts a cloud ecosystem with direct connections to providers such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud.
The addition of CN1 in Chennai is expected to provide local customers with low-latency access to this ecosystem and enable secure connectivity with partners and providers.
Manoj Paul, Managing Director, India, Equinix, said:
“Our success in building the most interconnected ecosystem for cloud, carrier, content and enterprises in Mumbai will now be extended to customers in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, global enterprises planning to come closer to their customers in southern India now can leverage Equinix’s IBX facility in Chennai.”
“With CN1’s cutting-edge capabilities, we look forward to enabling businesses in Chennai and across India to leverage future-ready, scalable and digital infrastructure that supports sustainability to expand their business in Tamil Nadu and globally.”
The CN1 facility incorporates several measures to improve efficiency and environmental performance.
These include a fault-tolerant design to ensure high reliability, readiness for liquid cooling to support AI deployment, multiple fibre paths for resilience, and a commitment to sourcing renewable energy, including investment in solar and wind.
Globally, Equinix operates more than 270 data centres across 77 markets in 36 countries, serving over 10,000 businesses.
Featured image credit: Equinix
