Meet Me in Cleveland

Part of a series of articles published in FATPIPE magazine from 2003-2005 examining carrier interconnection options in major North American cities. This article was published in the August 2004 issue. To download the complete series as one consolidated PDF (2.7 MB), click here.

If you are looking to roll out a network in the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, there are a couple of stones to overturn when searching for interconnection satisfaction.

For carriers looking for opportunities or enterprises looking to relocate, Cleveland has a diverse base of network users to tap. Aside from several major bank headquarters, hospitals and research centers, there is a non-profit organization called OneCleveland, whose underlying mission is to provide broadband access to Ohio's academic, research, cultural, health care and government organizations through a major 1-10G Ethernet network build-out project that's currently underway. Case Western University is a participant in this project and in the next phase will offer free public wireless access from its 1,200-plus wireless access points. There are sure to be substantial network opportunities and interconnection needs in to the future as a result of this initiative. For more information visit www.onecleveland.org.

So, where do you go in this town to get a network connected?

The FiberMedia meet me room at the Higbee Building and FONE-MMR at the T-Rex Technology Center are two of the hottest gigs in town when it comes to network interconnection. Cleveland is an interesting market from the longhaul perspective, as it is situated almost directly in the middle of New York and Chicago, making it an interconnection and regeneration point for several major networks. This gives the surrounding Cleveland market easy access to other major interconnection sites through these local facilities.

The Higbee Building ownership, along with FiberMedia, has created a top-notch carrier hotel located in the center of downtown Cleveland. There's tremendous redundancy, a high level of security, 40-meg electrical design, capacity for 22 two-megawatt generators with a 120,000-gallon capacity fuel farm and 68 diverse shafts with intermittent steel and grating on every floor. The building provides redundant shafts and points of entry for all infrastructure systems and local loop connectivity to almost all area carriers in diverse routes. The staff is well trained and available 24/7, 365 days a year. FiberMedia is the meet me room operator, building designer and technology consultants for the building. Its broad technology expertise includes the design, engineering, construction, connectivity, equipment provisioning and management in flexible affordable packages.

The FONE-MMR at the T-Rex Technology Center is a joint venture between these two companies, designed specifically to provide direct carrier-to-carrier interconnections via existing conduit runs within the building. Network operators wishing to interconnect within the building have the ability to directly connect within the FONE meet me room. This is done through a series of FONE-MMR-owned and managed in-building conduits that tie back into its facility. The connections in this MMR are passive only.

The FONE-MMR management team has a unique understanding of network infrastructure and services provided through carriers located in Cleveland and servicing the Ohio Valley. This knowledge provides FONE-MMR with the ability to help carriers design interconnection relationships that best service carrier expansion needs. All prospective carriers looking to interconnect to other carriers within the T-Rex Technology Center are required to use this meet me facility as the access point for services.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try looking at these sites, you might get what you need, at least in terms of interconnection in Cleveland.

For more information about FONE, contact Peter Berns at (800) 604-9908 or [email protected].

For more information about FiberMedia, contact Roger Krulak, president, at (216) 687-0060 or [email protected] or Dave Diaz, CTO, at (954) 342-5001 or [email protected].

Originally published in FATPIPE magazine, August 2004.

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