Equinix Earnings Preview: Focus on Cross Connects

David Gross at www.datacenterstocks.com:

>>Equinix did make a point in its warning call about the desirability of customers who buy cross-connects with their cabinets. Now it didn't say which kind of cross-connects it likes best - high revenue extended cross-connects, cross-connects between cages, or higher-bandwidth fiber cross connects - just cross connects. I agree with where they're going with this though. Plenty of companies can build data centers, but few can match the network connections that have accumulated inside existing Equinix (and Switch & Data) buildings. This is why we here the cringe-worthy term "network density" constantly from co-lo providers. That catchphrase is the new, updated version of "network effect", which got a lot of play in the 90s after Ethernet creator Robert Metcalfe starting mesmerizing audiences with the concept.