GNX+ joins Equinix Fabric Marketplace for EMEA access

GNX has added its GNX+ platform to the Equinix Fabric Marketplace, giving Equinix customers across EMEA access to GNX's last-mile connectivity sourcing and management service.

The integration lets users quote, order and manage links between their sites and Equinix Fabric through the Equinix Customer Portal. Customers can compare local access options by address and review bandwidth, contract terms, prices and lead times before placing an order.

GNX focuses on a part of network deployment that often remains fragmented across countries and local telecoms providers. While large data centre operators offer broad geographic reach, businesses connecting branch offices, factories, retail sites and other distributed locations still often need to negotiate with multiple local internet service providers in separate markets.

According to GNX, its platform draws on direct relationships with more than 3,000 local and regional ISPs across more than 190 countries, allowing customers to source services through a single contract rather than negotiating market by market.

Last-mile focus

Equinix customers in the region will also be able to bring existing last-mile circuits into the same management environment, track provisioning, monitor live services and raise support tickets for individual sites. GNX says the service is backed by a 24/7 network operations centre.

The integration reflects the growing importance of local connectivity as companies spread cloud and data-intensive workloads across a wider range of operational locations. As computing demand moves beyond centralised data centres into field sites and branches, the practical challenge often lies in arranging physical access links in each local market.

Rick Mur, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at GNX, said the company was extending the platform's role beyond internet access procurement.

"Since launch, GNX+ has been a lifeline to procurement and networking teams when sourcing and managing global internet access. With this collaboration, we are extending our platform's capability to source point-to-point access, supporting Equinix customers in finding the best connectivity between their sites (of any kind) and their Equinix Fabric footprint," said Mur.

Equinix operates more than 280 data centres across 77 metros, giving enterprise customers a broad set of locations for interconnection and cloud access. The addition of GNX+ addresses a separate issue: how those customers connect individual business sites into that infrastructure using local access providers.

Customer access

For buyers, one of the main changes is that quoting and ordering are presented through an existing marketplace environment rather than through separate local carrier discussions. Customers can compare competing providers side by side and place orders within the same workflow, according to GNX.

GNX describes itself as a carrier-neutral internet aggregator headquartered in the Netherlands. Founded in 2018, it has built its business around consolidating procurement, billing and service management for enterprises with widely distributed site networks.

Johan Arts, Senior Vice President of Sales at Equinix, linked the arrangement to changes in how enterprise technology workloads are being distributed.

"Enterprises are distributing cloud and AI workloads across more locations than ever, and the last mile is often where complexity builds. With GNX+ in Equinix Fabric Marketplace, customers can source and manage last-mile access from a broad pool of local providers through one automated platform, making it simpler to extend Equinix Fabric to the enterprise edge," said Arts.