Research, Strategy, & Design Expanded Equinix's Market: Data Center Network Infrastructure as a Service
45 days ➔ <1 day, +87% revenue
Company: Equinix
PROJECT SUMMARY
Equinix's 45-day average to activate a port made us uncompetitive. From research to launch, I led the UX transformation that reduced it 98% to <24 hours, grew revenue 87%, and opened our market beyond enterprise to new SMB customers.
RESPONSIBILITIES: END-TO-END UX
- Sole Experience Designer
- Quantitative research
- UX & Product Strategy
- Prototypes & UX specifications
- Pixel-perfect designs
TIMELINE & TEAM
6 months, with a Product Owner, Technical Product Manager, Engineering, & external Visual Designer
RESULTS
- 98% reduction in delivery time
- 87% revenue growth → $21.7M/mo
- Opened market to SMBs
From 45 days ➔ <1 day: A Process Transformed!
COMPANY & PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Equinix is the largest global data center provider, and Internet Exchange (IX) is the world's largest peering platform, where networks rent physical ports to exchange traffic directly ➔ faster speeds, lower costs vs third-party routing.
- 190+ data centers
- 70+ countries
Internet Exchange
Direct Connection
- Cheaper
- Faster
- Lower latency
PROCESS & TIMELINE
In 6 months, I learned IX quickly, conducted discovery, worked with our PO and Technical Product Manager (TPM) to reframe our problem, used that new framing for the information architecture, interaction design, prototyping, and visual craft of a new ordering process, and shepherded that design to implementation and delivery with our Singapore engineers.
Discovery & Research with stakeholders & peer products
Recruited from 3 yrs on Cloud Exchange—2 as its sole designer + 1 mentoring its new designer
Reframe Product Strategy & set design strategy
Experience Design for expanded user set & comprehensive coverage
Collaborating to implement with remote devs
A process map shows steps; it doesn't show what a process assumes.
UX asking why...
DISCOVERY
I learned about IX from our PO, our TPM, and the TPM's order fulfillment process map. I traced our 45-day average to our enterprise, white-glove mindset—our process assumed that every customer had an organization deep enough to absorb 6–8 rounds of follow-up and negotiation.
Quickly learned about IX product and the existing ordering and delivery process
Key finding: The order form, with its usability challenges, was just the start—every department followed up separately, each needing something from the customer
It added up: Each follow-up cost days or weeks on both sides
Core opportunity: Collect a complete order up front, not just a starting point
RESEARCH --> STRATEGIC SHIFT
Comparing our process with three competitors' processes, I realized that the right problem wasn’t speed, but a customer gap: those competitors’ customers were SMBs who needed a transaction, not a white-glove process.
Competitors: less technical users
I realized competitors' designs focused on SMB and reframed our goal to "add SMB support."
3 design imperatives: Clear pricing, educational content & industry-standard language, & 0 follow-ups
DESIGN STRATEGY
I set three design goals to define success: make configuration effects visible (not hidden in dropdowns), support less technical users with in-context help, and integrate all workflows—from new country accounts to document signing—into one comprehensive wizard.
Visibility of logic, pricing, & process
Education for less technical buyers
Comprehensiveness: Integrate all ordering scenarios (including edge cases) into wizard—no post-order follow-ups
Build the structure of the task into the structure of the tool.
after Ed Hutchins' Distributed Cognition
SOLUTION: VISIBILITY & STRUCTURE
I transformed the business process map into a 5-stage wizard using tile-based selections—where configuration choices visibly affected downstream options, with pricing transparent from page one.
Show the 5 stages in a persistent step indicator
Progressive visibility + help: Selecting a tile reveals the next question and its options; help links embedded with the questions
Show real-time price as customer builds order using a persistent order summary
* 2cm foveal attention + heuristics from Don Norman, Jakob Nielsen, and Ben Shneiderman + distributed cognition (Ed Hutchins)
SOLUTION: COMPREHENSIVENESS
I integrated all special case workflows—new country account setup, document signing through our e-signature vendor—as embedded sub-tasks, eliminating the typical 6–8 departmental follow-ups by collecting everything in the wizard.
COMPONENT DESIGN → DESIGN SYSTEM
I carried the whys I'd inferred down into the components: tiles support comparison, prices stay visible, and a confirmation page to give SMB buyers a transaction feel. Adopted by every cloud networking IaaS product via our design system: SMB needs turned out to be everyone's.
Aded tile variants to enable at-a-glance comparison
Added new components: Order summary, document signing tiles, order confirmation page, enhanced step indicator for multi-page wizards
Design system work: Reconciled two nascent design systems; documented patterns with both teams—which led to my next project, consolidating port ordering across products
The structure of the order used to be assembled through follow-ups and negotiations. I built it into the structure of the wizard.
BUSINESS RESULTS
Customers had more confidence and less friction. One early customer got their port in less than 24 hours—98% faster. Revenue went up 87%. Customers bought more both ports and more expensive ones.
"The UI/UX and order flow actually worked great... we went from 'wouldn't it be convenient?' to activation in <24 hours.”
—Customer email, shared by our Product Owner
STRATEGIC IMPACT & LESSONS
We added SMB customers to IX’s target market through research-driven design—a strategic win beyond our 2-day goal. Next time, I'd advocate for UX involvement earlier in process mapping and Engineering discussions.
Transparency & Education Opened Market to SMBs
Foundation for future: Components added to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) design system ➔ all IaaS products
Lesson: Include UX in process mapping and earlier Engineering discussions
SUMMARY
98% faster activation. 87% revenue growth. Market expansion through research-driven design—a strategic win beyond our 2-day goal. Design system foundation.
Smashed original 2-day goal: The transformed 45-day high-touch process enabled a <24-hour comprehensive online experience
Strategic shift from 2-day goal to adding SMB customers: research-driven design led to expanded market, added revenue, and gave customers the confidence to buy more expensive ports
Design system contributions scaled impact: Created the components and wizard template adopted by every IaaS product via our design system
"Thanks for all your efforts last year to make these flows so good they're changing perceptions of interacting with Equinix. This project is going to have a huge impact."
Product Owner, Greg Dendy
0.6.4+ wc, 10/28/2026
Selected Works
