Equinix, Inc. is an American multinational company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that specializes in Internet connection and data centers. The company is a leader in global colocation data center market share, with 248 data centers in 27 countries on five continents. It is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol EQIX, and , it had approximately 12,000 employees globally. The company converted to a real estate investment trust (REIT) in January 2015. History Equinix was founded in 1998 by Al Avery and Jay Adelson, two facilities managers at Digital Equipment Corporation. The firm promoted its data center platform as a neutral place where competing networks could connect and share data traffic. The firm capitalized on the "network effect," through which each new customer would broaden the appeal of its platform. It expanded to Asia-Pacific in 2002 and Europe in 2007, followed by Latin America in 2011, and the Middle East in 2012. In 2018, according to data collected by the online publication Sludge, Equinix signed three contracts with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide "information technology support equipment" totalling over $5 million. In September 2020, the company shifted its branding to describe itself as a "digital infrastructure company". Acquisitions and expansion In 2002, Equinix merged with i-STT, the Internet infrastructure service subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, and Pihana Pacific. This established the company's presence in China, Singapore, Australia and Japan. In 2007, the firm announced a $2 billion international expansion plan and entered the European market by acquiring data center operator IXEurope and its facilities. In 2010, Equinix opened its 50th data center, in London. Over the next seven years, the company nearly tripled its data center portfolio, growth the company attributed to increased demand caused by the emergence of cloud computing, the Internet of Things and big data. In 2010, the company purchased Switch and Data Facilities Company, Inc., a U.S. internet exchange and colocation services provider. The company extended its operations to the Middle East and in Southeast Asia in 2012. Also in 2012, it acquired Hong Kong-based data center provider Asia-Tone. In 2014, Equinix increased its Latin American presence when it acquired ALOG Datacenters of Brazil S.A., the country's leading provider of carrier-neutral data centers. In 2015, Equinix converted to a real estate investment trust (REIT) to gain tax advantages and add shareholder value. That same year, it acquired the professional