OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2015. We shook things up at Equinix in 2015, not just within our figurative four walls, but in the industry. This was a  year of major growth and unprecedented expansion for Equinix as we continued to build the digital economy’s leading global interconnection platform. Consider this a list, in no particular order, of the top 10 things we want to remember about 2015, with a bonus entry added in the holiday spirit:

1) Telecity acquisition cleared

Our deal to acquire Telecity was cleared by European regulators and is on track to close in early 2016. The acquisition will remake the European data center market and establish Equinix as the region’s top interconnection provider. It adds 34 data centers to our global portfolio, giving us 145 facilities worldwide.

2) Expansion in Japan

When we acquired the Japanese data center company Bit-isle, we more than doubled the number of facilities we run in Japan, from five to 11. We also became that country’s fourth-largest data center operator.

3) 50 and counting 

We hit 50 straight quarters of revenue growth in Q2 – and we’ve since extended the streak to 51. The streak preceded, and then outlasted, one of the worst economic downturns of the last century.

4) Introducing “The Big Five”

The first months of 2015 saw Equinix open five new data centers on four continents. “The Big Five” expanded our presence in Singapore, London, New York and Toronto, while introducing Equinix to Melbourne, Australia.

5) “Obrigado” to ALOG

ALOG is now Equinix after we officially acquired the Brazilian data center company. The deal expanded our interconnection platform in Brazil, the second-largest IT market among the world’s emerging economies, trailing only China.

6) Hello to Nimbo

Our acquisition of professional services company Nimbo emphasized our commitment to the enterprise and to supporting its data center migration to the cloud. Nimbo specializes in helping enterprises develop and implement hybrid cloud IT architectures.

7) Envisioning the Enterprise of the Future

Our Enterprise of the Future survey of 1,000 IT global leaders made it clear that the future will be found in interconnection – direct and secure, physical or virtual connections between an enterprise and its customers, partners or employees. The survey indicates that the number of interconnected enterprises is set to more than double, to 84%, by 2017.

8) Call us a REIT

We converted to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in a move that sped up our business momentum and gives us additional resources to enhance and expand our interconnection platform. Being a REIT comes with tax advantages and requires us to pay quarterly dividends, which is appealing to investors.

9) Introducing the IOA

We released a blueprint to help companies become interconnected enterprises called The Interconnection Oriented Architecture™ (IOA ™). An IOA shifts the fundamental IT delivery architecture from siloed and centralized to interconnected and distributed. It’s essential to meeting the requirements of today’s digital businesses.

10) Our S&P 500 debut

We debuted on the S&P 500 after years of interconnection leadership put us in the thick of evolving industry trends, including cloud, mobile and the Internet of Things. As Steve Smith said, our S&P 500 selection simply recognized the critical role we play in the broader technology industry.

11) A clean and renewable vow

We’ve made quick progress on this year’s commitment to eventually power our global platform with 100% clean and renewable energy. Two wind power purchase agreements and a deal with a solar project in California will allow us to cover more than 80% of our global platform by the end of 2016.

The successes of 2015 tee us up for a big 2016, and we’re looking forward to continuing to bring our customers the power of interconnection and making Equinix the place where opportunity connects!