Equinix has officially killed its bare-metal service.
The platform sunsets on June 30, though console access will remain available until December 31, 2026, for users with the 'Owner' role. They will still be able to download invoices and billing history and view historical account information. Meanwhile, any servers that remain provisioned post-sunset will be permanently deleted.
The firm had entered the bare metal services world at the turn of the decade following its acquisition of Packet, which was subsequently rebranded as Equinix Metal. At the time, Equinix billed its Packet purchase as a means to make it easier for enterprise customers to deploy multi-cloud solutions, while then-CEO Charles Meyers said the deal would “allow it to move into smaller markets” and bolster its Edge play.
Packet's CEO, Zac Smith, had been put in charge of the offering following the acquisition but opted out in 2023, leaving to co-found open-source network cloud startup Datum. Just a year later, Equinix confirmed it was killing off the service and pledged to help account holders assess alternative solutions.
Prior to shutdown, Equinix encouraged customers to delete resources, including IP addresses, fabric virtual connections, and virtual local area networks (VLANs), warning that failure to do so would result in continued charges, “even after all servers have been terminated.”
Following the final day of service on June 30, users will no longer have access to Metal instances, with final billing runs and invoices issued shortly after. Console access will be formally removed and taken offline on January 1, 2027.
Support services for Metal will also be retired on September 30, 2026. Users requiring support after this date are encouraged to contact their Equinix account teams.
Users with Fabric interconnections associated with Metal services need to ensure they’ve been deleted or disconnected, as remaining Fabric resources may continue to incur charges if not removed, the company warned.
Equinix Metal’s shutdown has seen rival bare metal providers circle for some time, with Megaport (via Latitude.sh), OVHcloud, and OpenMetal among those moving to snap up migrating customers.
But Equinix has its sights set elsewhere, with the colo giant busy reimagining networking for the AI era. In the past year, it’s launched a Distributed AI Hub platform to bring inference closer to the edge and a “smart automation” service for connection management, dubbed Fabric Intelligence. And in late May, it unveiled Fabric Geo Zones, a sovereignty-focused compliance mechanism designed to keep data within defined geographic boundaries.