**Editor’s Note: Click here for our recent list of “Top Partners: The Best of the Best,” featuring channel partners recognized by numerous companies in the industry.**

Equinix, the data-center services company, has named its Americas Partner of the Year and its New Partner of the Year for the Americas.

The former is Datapipe, a managed cloud-services provider that Equinix says was an outstanding achiever in customer acquisition and global expansion of Platform Equinix in 2016. The company also is recognized for its ability to offer “innovative managed hybrid IT solutions to a broad base of enterprise customers.”

Datapipe is a longtime member of the Equinix Channel Partner Program, having collaborated with Equinix for 16 years. Its presence has grown across four continents. The two companies previously announced that they would team up to provide managed hybrid IT solutions for Amazon Web Services (AWS), which uses Equinix’s 145 International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers and combines its Cloud Exchange with Datapipe’s managed services and the AWS platform. The companies also jointly offer hybrid IT services for Microsoft Azure.

Equinix first announced its channel program two years ago at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

“The Equinix Channel Partner Program has enabled Datapipe to leverage the Interconnection Oriented Architecture (IOA) that Equinix provides to help some of the world’s most trusted brands compete and thrive in the global marketplace,” said James Tansey, VP of channel sales, Datapipe. “We are proud to be named Americas Partner of the Year as it recognizes the commitment that Equinix has to its partners.”{ad}

Equinix’s New Partner of the Year, Americas, is Synoptek. The managed IT and cloud-services provider is being honored for its overall contribution to Equinix’s business. Synoptek is recognized for achievements in the expansion of Platform Equinix and its “ability to drive innovative solutions and bundles in a fast-paced market.”

Together in 2016, Equinix and Synoptek introduced the Managed Performance Hub, a service designed to address the needs of organizations struggling to maintain the highest level of network performance and quality-of-service for global users. It takes enterprise cloud apps to users in remote locations around the world.

“Ultimately the results we achieved were a product of the largest cloud foundation in the world, which Equinix’s global infrastructure and our global managed service delivery platform provide,” said Tim Britt, CEO, Synoptek. “By combining our IT service delivery capability with the Equinix’s foundation, we were able to deliver value that our customers had not yet imagined in a rapidly evolving cloud market.”

These top-partner announcements come just two months after Equinix said it is buying Verizon’s data-center business for $3.6 billion, a move with significant channel implications.

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