Inter-Data Center Connectivity Gets Smarter

- Ilissa Miller, CEO, iMiller Public Relations, says:

What happens when you want to get from one data center managed meet-me-room to another?  First, most data centers charge a cross-connect fee – whether it’s a one-time fee or monthly recurring.  Then, identifying the right, most cost-effective provider to take you from point A to point B could be time consuming and tedious.  Lastly, there is the provisioning time frame to consider – one data center may have a specific policy, another may have a different one.  Managing the process through each of these steps, including assuring all contract details and purchase orders are in place, can be tedious – to say the least.

If you are a customer of one colocation provider that maintains multiple facilities and offers inter-facility cross connects, your issues are managed for you.  And in that instance, you are in luck.  But the chances are that your network connections need to go from one provider’s facility to another – even within a given metro market – and the process to get from point A to point B, as outlined above, can be time consuming, tedious and resource-intensive.

Today’s network providers are smartening up to identifying what the issues are in the market and create business models that solve those concerns.  One such company championing this thought process is Global Capacity.  Global Capacity has solved the problem of interconnecting disparate networks to achieve effective access network connectivity.  To get from your Point of Presence (PoP) to the end- user location requires an access network connection, and with one interconnect to One Marketplace, Global Capacity can provide customers with multiple network options and automated pricing within seconds.  Should these customer-specific / competitive quote be accepted by the customer, the automated pricing platform also accepts orders, manages the provisioning process and can even manage the network for you if required.

Global Capacity has solved the problem of getting from one PoP to an end location leveraging disparate network connections through a single platform.  Now, there is also a company, MOD Mission Critical that has solved the problem of getting from one meet-me-room to another meet-me-room across different data center operated facilities. 

In April 2013, MOD Mission Critical launched the first-ever Inter-Building Cross Connect (IBC) platform in Los Angeles, CA.  The platform provides flat rate connectivity options for companies that require inter-building connectivity to disparate data centers in the L.A. metro market.  IBC is a unique service that provides inter-data center connectivity among different owner-operated meet-me-rooms.  For instance, companies that would like to connect multiple facilities operated by different service providers can leverage this flat fee-based service for connections ranging from 100Mbps to 10G wavelengths. 

This service is currently available in the L.A. metro market, though the company expects IBC to expand into other key metro markets soon.  Inter-building connections are currently available from 624 S. Grand Street to multiple meet-me-rooms located in 600 W. 7^th Street and 900 Alameda, with near-net capabilities extending to 530 W. 6^th Street, 1200 W. 7^th Street and 818 W. 7^th Street.  In addition to these metro IBC locations, MOD Mission also provides direct private line connectivity between 624 S. Grand in Los Angeles, 11 Great Oaks in San Jose, CA and 60 Hudson Street in New York.  MOD Mission offers IBCs as a flat fee for 10Gbps wavelength connections and can be installed within seven business days.

For more information about Global Capacity’s access network solutions and their One Marketplace, visit www.globalcapacity.com/onemarketplace.php. 

For information about MOD Mission Critical’s Inter-Building Cross Connect platform, go to www.modmc.net.