All Nippon Airways (ANA) has deployed a centralized cloud network hub designed to shorten network provisioning and support an expected tenfold increase in its global data volumes.
The Japanese airline built the hub using Equinix Fabric, a software-defined interconnection service that provides private, on-demand connections to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud without requiring separate physical circuits for each platform.
Equinix said the deployment reduced ANA’s network provisioning time by about 80%, from several months to several weeks. The airline is also targeting a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership over five years.
The new architecture supports ANA’s reservation, boarding, customer communications, and operational systems. The airline operates about 280 aircraft across more than 200 domestic and international routes.
ANA previously relied on dedicated circuits for individual systems, an approach that became more complex and costly as the airline expanded its use of hybrid and multicloud services.
“Our rapid business expansion demanded a network with unprecedented flexibility. Rather than continuing to expand our existing network environment, we recognized that implementing network-as-a-service was the most effective path forward,” said Jun Nakazato, manager of the IT Infrastructure Team under ANA’s Digital Governance Department.
“Equinix Fabric delivers the dynamic foundation we need to scale seamlessly. Equinix serves not merely as a vendor, but as a critical strategic partner in modernizing our global systems and enabling our future growth.”
ANA said the centralized network would allow its development teams to obtain infrastructure more quickly for application development and testing. It is also expected to support advanced analytics, automation, and emerging artificial intelligence workloads.
The airline’s connections to cloud providers are handled through private links, with security policies enforced centrally across the network.
“ANA’s deployment of Equinix Fabric demonstrates what’s possible when enterprises evolve how they consume infrastructure, not by ripping and replacing, but by adding intelligence and flexibility on top of a resilient physical infrastructure,” said Kuniko Ogawa, managing director of Equinix Japan.
“We’re proud to support ANA as it builds a digital foundation capable of handling tomorrow’s data demands while delivering better experiences for passengers today.”
