BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 19, 2000 ISSUE
COVER STORY Equinix: The Mother of All Hosters One of the fundamental aha! moments in the history of the Technology Tap was the creation of the hosting business in 1995. With more and more companies rushing to set up Web sites, companies like Exodus Communications and Digex Inc. realized that by creating data centers for hire, they could provide high-speed connections to the Net as well as computer rack space far more cheaply than companies could for themselves. The result: The country is rapidly being dotted with these data centers. Total square footage is expected to balloon from 8.5 million today to 21 million by yearend, says Rick Juarez, an analyst with Robertson Stephens. One company is trying to become the mother of all hosters. Instead of just selling to individual companies, Equinix sells primarily to the service providers who make Technology on Tap a possibility. Its game plan: to get as many of the top network providers to hook up to its facilities and as many popular Web sites and apps-on-tap providers to set their servers there as well. That way, they can all be connected to each other via superfast links -- raising the chance that your Net requests will travel directly to one Equinix data center rather than get passed from network to network and hosting center to hosting center. FLYING START. And thanks to a $1.2 billion deal with Bechtel to build 30 centers over the next few years, an Equinix center will likely be somewhere near you. "This is where the future of the Net will be realized," founder Al Avery said at the opening of its new San Jose data center on Apr. 11. It's a bold dream that's off to a flying start, say analysts. Equinix has signed network providers like MCI WorldCom and Cable & Wireless, as well as application service providers such as Storage Networks. Equinix' business model may be just the ticket, too. With competition driving down the cost of basic hosting, other hosting companies are caught in a race to include more profitable add-on services. Exodus, for one, makes much of its profits by reselling network connections. But by making itself the place to be on the Net, Equinix can charge premium rates for its hosting. And rather than offer fancy services, it invites others to do so. The result: Equinix customers have a wide variety of options on everything from networks to data backup services, all within one place. BEYOND PASSWORDS. Equinix sees its primary responsibility as making sure its facilities are safe and always on. And $315 million in funding from investors like America Online, Cisco Systems, and Benchmark Capital allows it to spend big bucks on that job. Visitors have to get through five -- count 'em, five -- different biometric handprint readers to gain access to the new San Jose facility, which also is outfitted with concrete planters to defend against car bombs and enough on-site power to stay up and running for six days in the event of a major black out. "They've got better security than the Defense Dept.," says Gartner Group analyst John Coons. "They seem to have a unique idea, and so far they're executing flawlessly." By Peter Burrows in San Mateo _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Technology on Tap COVER IMAGE: The Info Tech 100 TABLE: The Leading Public Info Tech Companies TABLE: The Leading Private Info Tech Companies TABLE: Who Wins When the Web Is On Tap TABLE: As PCs Take a Back Seat, New Technology Drivers Emerge TABLE: Three Who Are Tapping In ONLINE ORIGINAL: How Four Pioneers Are Turning on the Tech Tap ONLINE ORIGINAL: Yipes Communications: Bandwith on Demand ONLINE ORIGINAL: Equinix: The Mother of All Hosters ONLINE ORIGINAL: DiCarta: Providing "Apps on Tap" ONLINE ORIGINAL: Everdream: Turning on the Tap for Small Biz INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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