Smart Cabinet Is Smart for Business

Cyxtera Technologies • September 28, 2021 • 3 minute read

Hybrid IT, Enterprise Bare Metal, Colocation in Business

When we started Cyxtera four years ago, we did so with the aim of making it easier for customers to consume colocation. We started with a vision and a blank slate, where we could build whatever innovations we wanted on top of an already world-class data center footprint. We staked our company — and our reputation — on being a technology innovator in the retail colocation space. We’ve built additional capabilities over the years, each based on feedback from our customers about where they need — and want — to be, and today, we are bringing the work of the past four years to fruition.

Smart Cabinet, our newest offering, is the embodiment of what it means to have truly customizable colocation on-demand, and, in my opinion, is the culmination of everything we have been building since Day 1. With Cyxtera’s Smart Cabinet, customers don’t have to decide between deploying infrastructure or applications into colocation against the benefits of public cloud – Cyxtera has now fully realized the vision of both with dedicated, on-demand colocation cabinets complete with built-in power and a configurable core network.

Built in-house to the highest standards for security and reliability, Smart Cabinet is an engineer-centric solution, ideal for those who prefer colo but want it in a cloud-like experience. Powered by Cyxtera’s digital exchange, Smart Cabinet lets customers configure and deploy the colocation infrastructure they need, when they need it, and with direct access to Cyxtera’s massively scalable and highly secure configurable network, as well as the robust ecosystem of technology providers available across the company’s global platform.

Up until now, colocation environments required that a full network platform be deployed in every single environment. Customers spent a lot of money upfront on core network capabilities. But with Smart Cabinet, that will be a distant memory. For instance, if a customer just wants to use our network to get connectivity, they can buy a single port and provision connectivity. If they want to use our network to extend into their own network via Layer 2, we’ve designed it so that their vLAN’s can extend into our fabric. For those who prefer not to invest in a core network, they can buy a cabinet that’s fully deployed with our network platform without having to make a significant upfront investment. Smart Cabinet gives enterprises the ability to activate capacity in real-time as their needs increase.

What’s more, whereas once companies that wanted a colocated environment had to wait weeks from the time they ordered until they were up and running, customers who need to quickly deploy a piece of equipment in a data center will have the ability to walk in the same day, plug it in, activate it, and be up and taking traffic on the internet in a matter of minutes. In one fell move, we’ve taken the process of getting up and running down from weeks to same-day.

Smart Cabinet might be the culmination, but it isn’t the end. We will be building on this announcement in the months to come with even more sophisticated offerings that you just won’t find elsewhere in the marketplace.

Smart Cabinet is a global solution for the next generation of entrepreneurs, irrespective of size or funding stage. We want to enable those enterprises that are building new solutions for their customers by giving them the tools they need to achieve success. So, whether you are an existing customer or just want to learn more about how our Smart Cabinet can help you realize your company’s vision, reach out to our Sales team. They’ll be happy to show you the possibilities.

Views and opinions expressed in our blog posts are those of the employees who made them and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Company. A reader should not unduly rely on any statements made therein.