Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of carrier- and cloud-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions and Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), a networking systems, services and software company, have a signed an agreement to deliver an open, secure and dynamic cloud-based interconnectivity to customers across Asia Pacific. As a key milestone on Digital Realty’s roadmap for open interconnection, the new connectivity options further enable connected data communities on PlatformDIGITAL® through the integration of Ciena’s DCI solution.

PlatformDIGITAL® is a first of its kind global data center platform designed to enable customers to scale digital business. The collaboration with Ciena represents a significant milestone to enhance open interconnection, unlock trapped value and remove legacy barriers to digital transformation as outlined earlier this year in Digital Realty’s open letter to the industry. Digital Realty and Ciena will combine expertise to tackle the challenges of data gravity head on and focus on laying the physical and virtual foundations through Ciena’s DCI solutions and Digital Realty’s Metro Connect service, that aims to truly enable connected data communities and support transformative outcomes for customers across all industries.

The announcement comes at a time when demand for digital infrastructure and access to cloud services is rapidly growing, with the Data Gravity Index DGx™ projecting a significant growth in compute power requirements by 2024. This reflects a growing trend among global customers towards deploying and connecting large hybrid data infrastructure footprints across multiple global sites.

“Data gravity across Asia Pacific is reaching incredible new levels with increased digital workflows and massive bandwidth demands driven by 5G, gaming, digital entertainment and Internet of Things (IoT). Enhancing Digital Realty’s network with Ciena’s coherent optics enables us to not just sell space, power, and security management facilities but also bundle DCI capabilities for customers at the lowest operational cost,” says Robert Davidson, APAC Head of Network Strategy at Digital Realty.

Ciena’s DCI solution will allow Digital Realty’s customers to reach provider ecosystems beyond primary customer deployment, scale data center footprint and establish connectivity between deployments, and enable Digital Realty to be a one-stop shop for interconnectivity. Digital Realty’s customers will also have expanded data center options without compromising cloud and network connectivity needs by choosing facilities connected to premium Internet Gateways.

“With a more dynamic network that can adapt to escalating demands, Digital Realty transcends the limitations for on-demand content and positions its customers for success. Ciena’s DCI expertise also helps to fast-track Digital Realty’s sustainability initiatives to minimize environmental impact and optimize the use of energy to deliver improved performance,” says Rick Seeto, Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific, Ciena.

Digital Realty is future-proofing data centers to provide maximum performance while improving density and minimizing footprint across Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney to serve the surging demands from enterprises, global content networks (GCNs), and over the top (OTT) players.

“Digital Realty is changing the topography of the Internet across some of the most important and fastest growing metros in the world, particularly in APAC. The region has emerged as the largest data center market and is poised to become an enterprise data powerhouse. The collaboration with Ciena puts Digital Realty in an excellent position to serve the surging demands and enable customers’ growth with our combined capabilities and shared interest in a new, sustainable open model for interconnection,” says Mark Smith, Managing Director for APAC at Digital Realty.

Digital Realty operates a network of industry-leading data centers in Asia Pacific, with locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Melbourne, and Sydney. It is implementing Ciena’s 6500 Reconfigurable Line System, Waveserver Ai compact interconnect platform, and Manage, Control and Plan domain controller, enabling high capacity DCI and disaster recovery/backup between data centers.

About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the world's leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture PDx™ solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty's global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with 291 facilities in 47 metros across 24 countries on six continents. For more information, please visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Ciena
Ciena (NYSE: CIEN) is a global leader in networking systems, services, and software. We build the most adaptive networks in the industry, enabling customers to anticipate and meet ever-increasing digital demands. For three-plus decades, Ciena has brought our humanity to our relentless pursuit of innovation. Prioritizing collaborative relationships with our customers, partners, and communities, we create flexible, open, and sustainable networks that better serve all users—today and into the future. For updates on Ciena, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, the Ciena Insights blog, or visit www.ciena.com.

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