Equinix looks to disrupt network-as-a-service with Fabric One offering

Equinix has unveiled Fabric One, a managed connectivity service designed to automate enterprise networking across distributed cloud and AI environments, with beta availability later this year and general availability planned for 2027 in North America. The service leverages open interconnect specifications co-defined by Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, and integrates with Equinix's Inference Exchange developed with Nvidia and Together AI. Equinix CPO Chris Audie said the offering reduces complexity by automatically managing connectivity based on customer intent, addressing the challenges of distributed AI workloads.

Equinix has unveiled a managed connectivity service it hopes will simplify how enterprises connect distributed environments. Dubbed Fabric One, it leverages specifications developed by Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud to determine networking connectivity requirements. A dedicated portal provides the means for customers to state their request, and a combination of APIs and automation workflows can apparently automatically orchestrate and manage everything from routing and cloud connectivity to encryption and failovers. "For decades, enterprise networks have been built one connection at a time for each partner and provider they depend on. That approach doesn't scale in a world of distributed AI that demands dynamic, flexible, and real-time connectivity," said Equinix CPO Chris Audie. "Equinix Fabric One will reduce the complexity that's slowing enterprises down by automatically managing connectivity across distributed architectures, based on the customer's intent." Enterprises today connect to multiple cloud and AI services across increasingly disparate locations. Network as a service NaaS vendors like Megaport, Nile and Alkira have long sought to provide the multi-cloud means – despite Gartner placing NaaS firmly in its “ trough of disillusionment https://www.sdxcentral.com/analysis/network-as-a-service-and-the-trough-of-disillusionment/ .” Equinix’s Fabric One sees the colo giant push into direct competition, leaning on its experience as a physical juggernaut with deeply-integrated facilities, with a sprinkling of AI automation to greatly reduce the need for manual human intervention. Also tying its multi-vendor AI and cloud routing offering together is the promise of it being built on top of open connectivity specifications. Equinix tapped OpenAPI 3.0 in a bid to “preserve choice and interoperability” across customers’ distributed environments, without the need to rely on proprietary platform layers. “Customers shouldn't have to figure out how to connect across multiple clouds and AI environments on their own. They should just define what they need and have it work,” Robert Kennedy, VP of AWS’ network services, said. “Fabric One builds on the open interconnect specification that AWS and Google Cloud helped define and deliver exactly that. A managed service that handles the complexity so customers can focus on their AI workloads, not how everything connects.” "Cross-cloud interoperability is the backbone of the AI era," added Rob Enns, Google Cloud’s VP of engineering for cloud networking. “We helped establish the open interconnect specification so enterprises no longer have to manage the complexity of multi-cloud networking. By combining Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Network capabilities with Equinix Fabric One, we are giving customers an automated, intent-driven network that lets them quickly deploy distributed AI workloads.” Fabric One will enter beta later this year, with general availability planned for 2027, initially available in North America. A second distributed offering from Equinix joined the network provisioning platform in Inference Exchange https://newsroom.equinix.com/2026-09-02-Equinix-Accelerates-AI-Inference-for-Enterprises-with-NVIDIA-and-Together-AI . Developed alongside Nvidia and Together AI, the distributed AI inference program provides enterprises connections to inference providers across major metros via its flagship Fabric platform. Both launches add to Equinix’s increasingly interconnected portfolio as it bids to meet customer demand for distributed AI workloads. Last September, it launched a dedicated distributed AI infrastructure platform https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/equinix-launches-distributed-ai-infrastructure-platform/ , which included a Fabric Intelligence tool capable of routing AI workloads to optimal locations based on latency, compliance, and cost requirements. The colo giant then supplemented that with a Distributed AI Hub platform https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/equinix-launches-vendor-neutral-distributed-ai-hub-to-bring-inference-closer-to-the-edge/ to provide private, low-latency connections between enterprises and AI providers. The AI–centric updates were then joined by an agentic-infused operational layer for managing network infrastructure, called Fabric Intelligence https://www.sdxcentral.com/news/equinixs-fabric-super-agent-lets-you-configure-your-network-via-slack/ . Unveiled in April, Equinix said it provided means to dynamically respond to workload changes in network operations.