Equinix, Inc., a global interconnection and data center company, today announced the immediate availability of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect in Equinix's Osaka International Business ExchangeTM (IBX^®) data center (OS1). With AWS Direct Connect, companies across Asia can connect their privately owned and managed infrastructure directly to AWS, establishing a private connection to the AWS Cloud that reduces costs, increases throughput, and delivers more consistent application performance. The Osaka offering is the second in Japan, with AWS Direct Connect also available in Equinix's Tokyo(TY2) data center, and it brings the total number of Equinix metros offering the service to nine, globally, with four in Asia Pacific. 

According to IDC's Public IT Cloud Services 2014-2018 Forecast, it is estimated that the cloud sector in the Asia Pacific region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26.5%.  With this continued growth, many companies are looking to deploy hybrid clouds, to reap the scalability and cost benefits of the cloud, while maintaining the security and control of on-premise infrastructure.  By offering AWS Direct Connect across Asia Pacific, Equinix helps enterprise CIOs advance their hybrid cloud strategies by seamlessly and securely incorporating cloud services into their existing architectures.