Equinix appoints Australian lead Jeremy Deutsch to helm Asia-Pacific operation

Equinix’s Australian managing director Jeremy Deutsch is set to leave Sydney for Hong Kong, after being appointed as president of the data centre and interconnection provider’s Asia-Pacific operations.

The new role sees Deutsch take responsibility for the regional strategy, management and growth plans of Equinix across the APAC region. The California-headquartered company has existing operations in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

An Equinix veteran, Deutsch joined the firm in 2008 as sales director of Equinix Australia. He came to the role after four years as general manager of products at Unwired Australia, a subsidiary of the SingTel Optus group.

Deutsch’s record as the top-performing sales lead in the APAC region for three years in a row while in his role as sales director for Equinix Australia, saw him promoted in 2014 to managing director of Equinix nationally.

As the company’s Australian lead, it was Deutsch who oversaw Equinix’s US$804 million (roughly A$1.035 billion at the time) acquisition of Metronode and the subsequent integration of the additional 10 data centres Equinix netted in the process. The deal afforded Equinix a grand total of 15 international business exchange (IBX) data centres across the country.

In March, Equinix announced yet another IBX data centre in South Sydney. Touted as its largest yet in Australia, the new data centre is Equinix’s eighth in Sydney and its sixteenth in Australia.

Equinix chief customer and revenue officer Karl Strohmeyer has lauded Deutsch’s performance heading up the company’s Australian business.

“Jeremy has a successful track record of growing and managing Equinix’s business in Australia over the last decade,” Strohmeyer said. “His tenured experience working with customers as well as running Equinix’s business in Australia uniquely contributed to our success there, and I look forward to working closely with him on our growth strategy in all of Asia-Pacific.”

The new position sees Deutsch report directly to Strohmeyer from Hong Kong, where he will be based. Deutsch replaces outgoing Asia-Pacific president Samuel Lee, who has been in the role since 2008.

For Deutsch, growth in Asia-Pacific is top of the agenda as he steps into the new role, along with meeting surging demand from customers across the region.

“We are very committed to investing and expanding in the Asia-Pacific region through organic expansions and acquisitions,” Deutsch told Telecom Times. “We already have more than 2,200 customers here and I see tremendous opportunities, from both our key markets today, as well as the new markets our customers want us to explore.

This year alone, we have made a total investment of US$535 million with six new openings and five IBX expansions in the region. With the opening of TY11 in Tokyo this week, we now have a total of 42 IBX data centers in Asia-Pacific. Coming up, we will also open SL1 in Seoul, ME2 in Melbourne, SY5 in Sydney and SG4 in Singapore.

“In addition, we’re also expanding the rollout of new solutions, such as Network Edge Service, which is currently available in Singapore and will soon rollout to Australia,” he said.

Deutsch’s focus in the early days of his new role, however, will be meeting the team, listening to them and also letting his new staff ask him questions.

“This is important so I can better understand each of the markets in the region, understand customer demands from each market, which can then inform our strategy in the Asia-Pacific region,” Deutsch said.

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