VMblog: Can you start by giving us a quick overview of the company?
Edward Vielmetti: We have 250 data centers in 71 metros around the world. Historically, Equinix has been in the colo business, but since the launch of Equinix Metal back in 2020 we've been becoming more "cloudy". Think of it as wrapping APIs around our data centers so you can now provision a bare metal server (and more) in 25 of those metros in about 2 minutes!
VMblog: How does your company fit within the ecosystem being discussed at the KubeCon?
Vielmetti: Through our cloud on-ramps and network peering, we're partnered with all major cloud providers. Further, Kubernetes is a workload that we've seen customers run on Equinix Metal. We have tools (SDKs and IaC) to help you provision metal in a cloud-like approach with hourly and monthly billing.
VMblog: For attendees of this event, what specific problems do you solve for them? Talk about any specific use cases.
Vielmetti: We host the CNCF's Community Infrastructure Lab where we provide infrastructure (network, storage, and compute) for over 50 open source projects on the CNCF Landscape. These projects use our network and storage infrastructure for software distribution and our compute infrastructure for CI/CD.
VMblog: Can you give us the rundown of your company's technology offerings? What does it do? And what makes it unique or differentiated in the market?
Vielmetti: Equinix has a unique position in the center of the Internet. Many networks including all of the biggest cloud providers interconnect through our data centers, which are also connected to key intercontinental submarine cable landing points. Our infrastructure-as-a-service, Equinix Metal, puts your dedicated cloud infrastructure at these key network junction points.
VMblog: Are you making any new announcements here at KubeCon? If so, can you give us any of the details or a sneak peek?
Vielmetti: We will be promoting our investments in the open source ecosystem with our Open Source Partner Program. Fun fact, our Open Source Partner Program has been running since 2017. As mentioned earlier, we provide access to network, storage, and compute to over 100 open source projects. In 2017 we provided $25,000 in credit per month to open source projects. In 2020 we tripled that investment to the tune of $1M per year.
VMblog: On the keynote stage during KubeCon, we're going to hear a lot about the ‘big picture.' What big themes and trends is your company interested in as we head into 2024?
Vielmetti: The whole Internet infrastructure industry is looking at the deployment of AI to understand how to accommodate those new workloads, which put new demands on power consumption density and cooling techniques like liquid cooling.
VMblog: What kind of demos will you be showcasing at the event, in your booth?
Vielmetti: We will be doing a variety of demos at our booth. Our engineering team will be showing off their Terraform modules that work with Equinix Metal's APIs. Meanwhile, we're going to have some of our partners, like Pulumi, also provide a demo on how can use Pulumi to work with our APIs too. We're also happy to show anyone that stops by just how quickly and easily you can provision a bare metal server in just a few minutes.
VMblog: How can attendees of the event find you? What do you have planned at your booth this year? What type of things will attendees be able to do at your booth?
Vielmetti: We will be at booth G10 on the main show floor. There will be fireside chats filming at the booth with our cloud partners. We'll be giving away freebies, like stickers and scarves. While we'll have large prizes like a Nintendo Switch and Legos, to raffle off.
VMblog: What are you personally most interested in seeing or learning at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon?
Vielmetti: I work directly with a lot of CNCF projects who are using the Community Infrastructure Lab infrastructure as a part of our Open Source Partner Program. It's always great to catch up with folks who have been using your infrastructure in production to hear first hand how the system is transforming how they work.
VMblog: Can you talk about the types of problems you solve for a KubeCon + CloudNativeCon attendee?
Vielmetti: For folks on the operations side of things, if you're looking to make hybrid cloud a reality, we can help there. With Equinix Fabric you can have your on-premises workloads connect to public clouds without ever touching the public internet.
VMblog: Are companies going all in for the cloud? Or do you see a return back to on-premises? Are there roadblocks in place keeping companies from going all cloud?
Vielmetti: Hybrid cloud is probably the future we are looking at. Companies that have developed expertise will move their workloads to get proximity to their customers and partners, and will navigate decisions between capital and operating expenses depending on their budget needs. At Equinix we offer colocation, on-demand or reserved compute and network with Metal and Fabric, and cloud on-ramps for performant and cost-effective interconnections.
VMblog: Are you giving away any prizes at your booth or participating in any prize giveaways?
Vielmetti: We are giving away scarves - we're in Chicago in November after all! - and some fun bare metal (bear metal) postcards. We'll also have drawings for fabulous prizes like a Nintendo Switch and Legos.
VMblog: Is your company sponsoring any type of party or get together during the event that you'd like to notify attendees about?
Vielmetti: Dell, Red Hat, and Equinix are jointly sponsoring an event on Monday evening to welcome attendees - reach out to anyone from those companies for an invitation.
VMblog: Do you have any advice for attendees of the show?
Vielmetti: The wind in Chicago in November can be brisk - pack and dress accordingly! A show like this that's so large can seem overwhelming at first because there's so much going on at once. Take it all in, but try to find some time to track down your friends and colleagues who you only have seen over Zoom calls in the past few years and have a conversation in person.
