Equinix Channel Partners Get New Leaders in 3 Global Regions

Equinix has added three new vice presidents to work with Equinix channel partners in three global regions. That includes hiring vets from Oracle and Schneider Electric, and promoting a channel exec who’s been with the company more than 10 years.

Equinix’s Orla Ni Chorcora

Orla Ni Chorcora has been hired as vice president of channel for EMEA. She previously was with Oracle for nearly 24 years. Ni Chorcora most recently was senior director of business development for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Equinix’s Sophie Ben Sadia

Sophie Ben Sadia has been hired as vice president of sales for APAC partners. She was with Schneider Electric for four-and-a-half years, and before that was with Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise. She was most recently Schneider’s vice president of channels and alliances in the IT division.

Equinix’s Ben Thames

Kevin Thames has been promoted to vice president of the Americas channel. He joined Equinix in May 2011 and most recently was senior director of partner and alliance sales for the Americas.

Driving Organizational Changes

Jules Johnson is Equinix’s senior vice president of global channels.

“We hired and onboarded all three vice presidents of channel in the last two months, so they are in place now, getting to know their teams and our partners in each region across the globe,” she said. “The Partner Direct Quoting (PDQ) tool was introduced in May, and partner rollout and adoption continues at an exciting pace. Our integrated marketing automation capabilities to make our partner portal a digital destination of partner value, are slated to be introduced this fall.”

Goals for Equinix channel partners include:

Accelerating Adoption of Solutions

“Equinix’s growth in channel contribution, now regularly over one-third of the company’s new bookings every quarter, has achieved critical mass,” Johnson said. “So there are a host of internal benefits to bringing all our channel sellers and our global channel programs resources together into one team, as we drive better focus, alignment and consistency of partner support and experience. Enterprise customers simply cannot move as fast or efficiently on their digital transformation journey alone. And Equinix is only part of the solution, a strategic part to be sure, but still only a part.”

Enterprise customers require Equinix and a host of other managed services, consultative services, workload application assessments, infrastructure, deployment and security options, she said. They need partners to help them optimize their consumption of the Equinix platform tailored to their company’s digital journey.

“So the market dynamics driving customers’ to move faster to execute their digital strategies has spurred Equinix to harness our collective resources and more efficiently bring our partners an elevated experience complete with the tools and resources they need to serve more shared customers faster,” Johnson said.

Listening and Learning from Partners

Equinix will continue to listen, learn and continuously deliver increasing value to its partner community, Johnson said.

“We’ve got more planned for the portal with the intent to create a digital destination of value where our partners manage all of their Equinix business and leverage assets to integrate Equinix’s messaging into a partner’s total solution,” Johnson said.