Equinix appoints new country manager

Peter Dinham
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 17:21

Global data centre services provider, Equinix, has appointed a 20-year industry veteran to run its Australian business as it prepares for the next stage of the company's expansion in the region.

Equinix president Asia Pacific, Samuel Lee, said Tony Simonsen would lead the next phase of the company's expansion in Australia and capitalise on business opportunities presented through the 'rapid proliferation of cloud, mobile and big data technologies.'

Lee said Simonsen joins Equinix from global technology firm Pitney Bowes where he was the managing director of Australia and also played a 'key role in building the enterprise strategy across the Asia-Pacific region.' Simonsen previously worked for Cisco and EMC, where he was responsible for EMC's Australia and New Zealand global services / technology solutions division.

According to Lee, with his extensive experience in driving strategic revenue growth, Simonsen would play a 'pivotal role in the continued growth and success of Platform Equinix in the region.'

'Equinix has made a significant investment in the Australian market, most recently opening Phase I of our US$65 million Sydney 3 data centre,  with increasing demand from companies to capitalise on Equinix's dense ecosystems in financial services and cloud computing, Tony's appointment comes at a great time for us.'

Simonsen said, it was an exciting time for the data centre industry as it entered what he called  a 'new age of data-intensive technologies' such as cloud computing, mobile services and big data analytics, and as businesses sought outsourcing or colocation services to develop their IT infrastructure in a 'cost-effective and energy-efficient manner.'

Simonsen will be based in Sydney, replacing Darren Mann, who has taken on a business development role within Equinix.