Exhibit 99.1
Equinix Announces Acquisition of New Data Center in L.A. Area and
Future Expansion Plans; Company Plans Investor Conference Call
FOSTER CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 13, 2005--
Strong Demand for Internet Exchange Services Drives Executive
Level Changes and New Real Estate Acquisition Plans to Support
Continued Expansion
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX), the leading provider of
network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services, today
announced an agreement to acquire a new data center in the Los Angeles
area as the company continues to expand its data center operations in
response to strong customer growth. Equinix will discuss the purchase
of the new data center, the company's future expansion plans to lease,
buy or build data center properties, and organizational changes to
support its expansion plans on an investor conference call scheduled
for Wednesday, September 14, 2005, at 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. PT).
The new center will be acquired through a purchase, where Equinix
will own the land, the building and the data center assets. The
center, located in El Segundo, will become Equinix's third IBX center
in the Los Angeles area, and follows expansions announced by Equinix
earlier this year in the Silicon Valley and Chicago markets. It will
provide Equinix with additional data center space to respond to strong
customer demand in the Los Angeles market, particularly among the
large aggregation of rapidly growing digital media companies in the
region.
Originally built for Exodus Communications in 2001 at a cost of
approximately $80 million, the 107,000 square foot stand-alone center
was purchased for $34.5 million. Equinix conducted a rigorous review
of all data center properties on the market in the Los Angeles area
and identified this property to be the only center available to meet
Equinix's high standards. The center, with its advanced power
infrastructure, will add approximately 2,000 cabinets and will double
Equinix's Los Angeles area footprint to more than 200,000 square feet.
Equinix intends to open the new center for customers in the first half
of 2006.
The center will be interconnected to Equinix's downtown Los
Angeles IBX centers through redundant dark fiber links managed by
Equinix. This interconnection fabric will enable occupants in each
center to have direct access to each other as if they were in the same
location, and it will provide immediate access to the more than 85
networks currently operating within Equinix's L.A. IBX. The new center
will also feature a physical infrastructure that is consistent with
Equinix's industry-leading standards for high-performance, security,
environmental control and power availability.
Equinix also announced today that the company is considering
future expansion plans to lease, buy or build data center properties
in targeted large metropolitan markets as warranted by customer
demand. To further advance this initiative Chief Financial Officer
Renee Lanam will manage Equinix's expansion efforts under the title of
Chief Development Officer. Keith Taylor, Vice President, Finance and
Chief Accounting Officer of Equinix, will be named CFO.
"With three data center acquisitions since the beginning of 2005,
Equinix is responding to the strong customer growth that is
solidifying our leadership position in the colocation and exchange
services market and paving the way to meeting our goal of building a
$500 million dollar company," said Peter Van Camp, CEO of Equinix. "As
our expansion plans are critical to the growth of the company, Equinix
has committed a seasoned veteran of the Equinix senior management
team, Renee Lanam, to oversee these efforts. I have the utmost
confidence in Renee's leadership in this new role, and I am excited
that Keith Taylor, who also has a depth of knowledge and financial
experience from a long tenure at Equinix, will serve as the company's
CFO."
"As customer demand drives new expansions, the current market
environment gives us a significant amount of flexibility to lease,
purchase or build attractive data center properties," said Renee
Lanam, Chief Development Officer of Equinix. "We plan to explore new
builds through build-out partnerships or other financing strategies to
reduce the outlay of cash and maximize shareholder returns."
Equinix intends to invest approximately $15.0 million of capital
expenditures to upgrade the center to Equinix standards, of which $2.0
to $3.0 million is expected to be incurred in 2005, increasing 2005
expansion capex guidance to a range of $25.0 to $30.0 million and
total capex to a range of $42.0 to $48.0 million. The company intends
to explore sale-leaseback opportunities before year-end to minimize
the cash outlay related to the purchase of the center. With this goal,
current 2005 guidance on free cash flow of greater than $30.0 million
remains unchanged. Revenue and EBITDA guidance for the year also
remain unchanged.
Equinix will hold an investor conference call to discuss the new
Los Angeles area data center purchase, the company's expansion
strategy and organizational changes on Wednesday, September 14, 2005,
at 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. PT). To join the conference call, please
dial 1-773-799-3263 and reference the passcode (EQIX). A simultaneous
live Webcast of the call will be available over the Internet at
www.equinix.com, under the Investor Relations heading.
A replay of the call will be available beginning on September
14th, 2005 at 7:00 a.m. PT. by dialing 1-203-369-0615. In addition,
the Webcast will be available on the company's Web site at
www.equinix.com. No password is required for either method of replay.
About Equinix
Equinix is the leading global provider of network-neutral data
centers and Internet exchange services for enterprises, content
companies, systems integrators and network services providers. Through
the company's Internet Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) centers in 11
markets in the U.S. and Asia, customers can directly interconnect with
every major global network and ISP for their critical peering, transit
and traffic exchange requirements. These interconnection points
facilitate the highest performance and growth of the Internet by
serving as neutral and open marketplaces for Internet infrastructure
services, allowing customers to expand their businesses while reducing
costs.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially
from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements.
Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited
to, the challenges of operating IBX centers and developing, deploying
and delivering Equinix services; a failure to receive significant
revenue from customers in recently-acquired data centers; competition
from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient
cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay outstanding indebtedness;
the loss or decline in business from our key customers and other risks
described from time to time in Equinix's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. In particular, see Equinix's recent quarterly
and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does
not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information
contained in this press release.
Equinix and IBX are registered trademarks of Equinix, Inc.
Internet Business Exchange is a trademark of Equinix, Inc.
CONTACT: Equinix, Inc.
Jason Starr, 650-513-7402 (Investor Relations)
jstarr@equinix.com
or
K/F Communications, Inc.
David Fonkalsrud, 415-255-6506 (Media)
dave@kfcomm.com