Executive overviewAs part of migrating its IT systems to Microsoft Azure, publisher HarperCollins realised that it needed a fast, secure, reliable link to Microsoft’s Dublin data centre. It chose Equinix in partnership with Dot Net Solutions, to provide Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute connectivity via the Equinix Cloud Exchange. By working with Equinix, HarperCollins has not only improved flexibility and resilience in the cloud, but has also achieved greater operational efficiency and cost savings.

The customerA global publishing company, HarperCollins is part of the News Corporation Group and employs around 850 people in the UK.

Business challenge News Corp is currently pursuing a three-year strategy of moving 75% of its data centre footprint to the cloud. As Jay Hunter, Head of Infrastructure and Enterprise Operations at News Corp Europe, explained: “We have found that cloud implementations give us cost savings and more importantly, deliver operational flexibility and resilience.”

In addition to this underlying objective, the three European News Corp business units had also been planning a move to a new London headquarters. HarperCollins UK, therefore, decided to take this opportunity to migrate its in-building systems into the cloud.

“We were looking for a cloud partner that met our technical requirements and with whom we had a non-competitive relationship,” said Hunter. “This led us to choose Microsoft Azure — a decision which was helped by News Corp’s existing relationship with Microsoft.”

Solution & value realisedBy choosing Equinix and ExpressRoute to provide a fast, reliable connection from London to Microsoft’s data centre in Dublin, HarperCollins realised much more than a private connection between Equinix’s London Slough data centre campus and Microsoft’s Dublin facility.

“We chose Equinix firstly because it was highly recommended by Microsoft,” said Hunter. “Secondly, Equinix was one of the few companies that could offer us the ExpressRoute option at the time we needed it — which is testament to the fact that Equinix is an agile, can-do company compared to some of the top-tier carriers who are slower to market.”

With the assistance of consulting firm Dot Net Solutions, HarperCollins has a roadmap to migrate four main lines of business applications to the cloud: a large-scale 25TB digital asset system, a bibliographics system, a paper, print and bind procurement system and an application that tracks contract rights and royalties. It is also planning to serve files using Microsoft’s StorSimple gateways. Equinix and ExpressRoute are a key first step in enabling this to happen.

Business results• Round trip latency to Dublin

data centre below 14ms means London-based staff will be able to enjoy performant, reliable access to cloud-based applications

• Will enable the shift from Capex to

Opex, aligning spend with changes in the business cycle

• Improved flexibility and resilience by enabling the move of key IT systems onto the cloud

• Running network services via the Equinix Cloud Exchange has allowed HarperCollins to become more operationally efficient with greater focus on business activities

EQUINIX AND MICROSOFT AZURE CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

HARPERCOLLINSPublisher is migrating business applications to the cloud and chooses a private, secure connection to Microsoft Azure via ExpressRoute and the Equinix Cloud Exchange™

ENTE

RPRISE

www.equinix.com

The Equinix Cloud Exchange accelerates cloud adoption and performance, enabling seamless, on-demand and secure direct access to single or multiple clouds and networks.

“Equinix has a clear, innovative view of the future of cloud — which the company is acting upon now, rather than just talking about.” Jay Hunter, Head of Infrastructure and Enterprise Operations, News Corp Europe

© 2014 Equinix, Inc.

www.equinix.com

About HarperCollinsOne of the world’s foremost English language publishers, HarperCollins draws on a heritage that stretches back nearly 200 years. With offices in the US, Canada, the UK, India, China and Australia, HarperCollins produces annual global revenues of more than $1 billion. HarperCollins UK publishes approximately 800 titles a year and employs some 850 people in London and Glasgow. www.harpercollins.co.uk

About Dot Net SolutionsAs the UK’s top Microsoft Cloud partner, Dot Net Solutions’ mission is to deliver smart and cost-efficient line-of-business solutions that push technology boundaries by harnessing the power of the cloud. A fully managed Microsoft Gold Partner, Dot Net Solutions is also a member of the Microsoft Azure Inner Circle, and a sponsor of the Microsoft Technology Centre.They increase efficiency with Microsoft’s Office 365 collaboration suite and lower infrastructure costs with Azure IaaS.

About EquinixEquinix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX), connects more than 4,500 companies directly to their customers and partners inside the world’s most networked data centres. Today, enterprise, cloud, networking, digital media and financial services companies leverage the Equinix interconnection platform in 32 strategic markets across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. By connecting directly to their strategic partners and end users, customers are forming dynamic ecosystems inside Equinix. These interconnected ecosystems enable companies to optimise the performance of their content and applications and protect their vital digital assets.0845 373 2900

“If you’re going to run enterprise systems in the cloud, then you need enterprise-grade connectivity,” said Hunter. “Equinix and ExpressRoute enable us to connect in a controlled and managed way to the cloud — with a guaranteed level of security, latency, quality of service and bandwidth with the predictability of a point-to-point circuit.”

“We find enterprise-grade web based systems do not function properly beyond 20 to 30ms in latency,” said Hunter. “From our London office to Azure in Dublin is about a 14ms round trip — so our aim is that employees using these types of application will not notice a performance impact.”

According to Hunter, the cloud strategy facilitates a move of spending from Capex to Opex and, perhaps more importantly, allows monthly expenditures to better align with changes in the business cycle.

A strategic advantageThe Equinix Cloud Exchange is an advanced interconnection solution designed to accelerate cloud adoption and performance, enabling seamless, on-demand and secure direct access to single or multiple clouds and networks across the globe. Expected to be available in 19 markets globally by the end of 2014, it leverages the proximity of cloud and network service providers within Equinix data centres to provide secure, low-latency private connections to cloud services.

“As News Corp moves toward the cloud, we want to buy high-grade, enterprise-level cloud access at different locations around Europe,” said Hunter. “That’s where the Equinix Cloud Exchange comes in — it fits closely with this vision.”

The Equinix Cloud Exchange offers the additional advantage of simplifying provisioning and management of virtual circuits between enterprise customers and cloud service providers.

“The Cloud Exchange allows us to focus on the business activities of our companies instead of managing networks, which can often be complicated, time-consuming and expensive,” said Hunter. “Equinix Cloud Exchange is a more modern delivery of managed services.”

Equinix fosters innovative cloud services interconnection offerings while building upon its longstanding relationships with enterprises as well as cloud and network service providers.

“I’ve found Equinix to be flexible, open-minded and generally easy to work with,” concluded Hunter. “For the future, I see this as the start of a partnership that could become of strategic importance to us.”