All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, has modernized its digital infrastructure using Equinix Fabric, enabling faster cloud connectivity, improved operational agility, and enhanced passenger services as it prepares for growing data demands and future AI-driven workloads.
Equinix announced that ANA has deployed a centralized cloud network hub powered by Equinix Fabric to support mission-critical services, including reservations, boarding, customer communications, and operational systems. The new architecture has reduced network provisioning time by approximately 80%, allowing IT teams to focus more resources on application development and testing.
The airline is also targeting a 30% reduction in its five-year total cost of ownership through the adoption of a more flexible and scalable network model.
ANA’s transformation comes as organizations worldwide shift toward hybrid multicloud environments and software-defined infrastructure to manage increasing data volumes and evolving business requirements. With a projected tenfold increase in global data traffic, the airline sought a more agile approach than traditional network architectures based on dedicated circuits.
Operating approximately 280 aircraft across more than 200 domestic and international routes, ANA relies on digital systems to support customer-facing services and daily operations. As the airline expanded its business and accelerated cloud adoption, maintaining performance, reliability, and scalability became increasingly complex.
To address these challenges, ANA redesigned its network around Equinix Fabric, a software-defined interconnection platform that provides secure, on-demand connectivity to major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, without requiring additional physical circuits.
“Our rapid business expansion demanded a network with unprecedented flexibility,” said Jun Nakazato, Manager of the IT Infrastructure Team within ANA’s Digital Transformation Division. “Rather than continuing to expand our existing network environment, we recognized that implementing network-as-a-service was the most effective path forward. Equinix Fabric delivers the dynamic foundation we need to scale seamlessly.”
By centralizing cloud connectivity, ANA has transformed its network into a more agile, software-defined platform capable of supporting integrated customer services, real-time operational coordination, and faster deployment of new applications. The architecture also creates a foundation for advanced analytics, automation, and emerging artificial intelligence workloads.
Equinix said the deployment demonstrates how enterprises can modernize infrastructure by adding intelligence and flexibility while leveraging existing physical assets.
“ANA’s deployment of Equinix Fabric demonstrates what’s possible when enterprises evolve how they consume infrastructure,” said Kuniko Ogawa, Managing Director for Japan at Equinix. “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.”
The project highlights the growing role of cloud interconnection and software-defined networking in the aviation sector, where airlines are increasingly investing in digital infrastructure to improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and long-term business resilience.
