Jules Johnston , Vice President , Americas Partner Sales at data centre company Equinix , discusses the company ’ s collaborative approach to interconnection .

Jules Johnston is Vice President , Americas Partner Sales at data centre company Equinix . Having joined in early 2016 , she has overseen a move to new sales channels as part of the company ’ s work . “ The team we ’ ve put together in the last few years has helped the company go from what was single digits in terms of partner-connected selling to something greater than 30 % of our bookings globally ,” she says . “ We ’ re on a path and committed to do the majority of our business with partners , so it ’ s been very exciting to be part of that . The team I lead today is the 40-person Americas partner sales organisation , and our job is to work with partners so that we can help our field and inside sellers meet at the customer .”

While Equinix is renowned as a co-location and data centre organisation , Johnston is clear that the company takes a broader view . “ We really think of ourselves as an interconnection company and as the global platform for digital business . So when companies build their digital infrastructure and platforms within Equinix , what they ’ re able to do is dynamically connect to the world ’ s largest ecosystem of clouds , data , suppliers and customers .” Constructing such an ecosystem has required a significant amount of infrastructure . “ Equinix has invested in over 210 data centres around the world , or international business exchanges , IBXs , as we call them . That allows Equinix to be able to meet the needs of any company today with global aspirations .”

Equinix works closely with colocation broker Colotraq , with the organisation having been one of Equinix ’ s master agents for around five years . “ Colotraq is a fellow pioneer in the data center space ,” says Johnston . “ As one of the oldest master agents in telecom , they ’ ve intersected with us naturally . Equinix started as a place for the world ’ s networks to come together in a neutral fashion and Colotraq also prides itself on being network neutral .”

“ One of the places that we intersect is in helping customers in their network optimisation strategies ,” says Johnston . “ We have the largest collection of networks in the world in Equinix data centers , and Colotraq advises companies on optimising their network strategies and spend . We ’ ve had a really long , productive association given that overlap .”

Incoming trends such as 5G , AI , IoT , blockchain and more all signal a bright future for Equinix and its cloud offering , with the company continuing to prove invaluable for customers even during the COVID-19 pandemic . “ Equinix was able to help a global financial powerhouse stand up 120,000 employees remotely in three days . In this current climate , companies have a real need for that . We ’ re able to use our digital platform to help companies make those kinds of moves .”

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Jules Johnston @ Equinix

The partnership extends far beyond the surface level , with Colotraq agents and Equinix solutions architects jointly meeting with customers to advise on digital edge strategy briefings .