Meet Me in Indianapolis
November 1, 2004
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 November 2004 issue. To download the complete series as one consolidated PDF (2.7 MB), click here.
In a city where speed is highly appreciated, speed to market and a quick interconnection are no exceptions. Carrier hotel meet carrier motel.
Indy Telcom Center in Indianapolis is indeed one of the most interesting network interconnection facilities in the country. The number of buildings, the layout, the interconnection process and the carrier density all are unique and help to eliminate any caution flags on the road to service delivery.
Eighteen years ago, a company called Lightnet chose a site to build its Indianapolis switching facility because of proximity to its railroad right of way, where the company was constructing fiber optic cable through downtown Indianapolis. Several years later, Lightnet was acquired by WilTel, which was then purchased by LDDS, which ultimately became MCI.
The owners of this building began to notice a trend. In the early 1990s interest in telecom carrier switch space was increasing, and by the late 1990s the property owners had built or rehabilitated 12 buildings on about 10 acres of land, providing some 280,000 square feet of space. All of the buildings were designed and occupied exclusively for telecommunications purposes.
Indy Telcom Center has implemented massive conduit banks connecting each building to each other, whether through under-slab conduits within a multi-tenant building or through a series of vaults, handholes and basements that connect the buildings. Tenants have the right to use these conduits or implement their own routes within the buildings and on the property. The tenant has the right to use conduits as long as the carrier or tenant remains a tenant of the Indy Telcom Center.
The conduit system allows a tenant to interconnect to anywhere in the facility. Most have looped the facility with fiber cable and have their own fiber distribution panels in most of the meet me rooms in the different buildings.
The conduit system interconnects all of the meet me rooms within each of the buildings. Access is controlled by building management. The meet me rooms range in size from a closet to 2,000 square feet depending on the building. The meet me rooms primarily are passive, with some having limited AC power. The tenants are responsible for their own cross connects. The furthest distance between any two meet me rooms is approximately 800 feet, so that route might go through three or four pull points, a basement, vault or handholes.
In early to mid 2001 Indy Telcom Center had 38 leases, most of which were national companies, and no vacancies. Today management feels very fortunate to have only a few vacancies (less than 10 percent). They expect there will be further consolidations, and Indy Telcom Center will continue to be one of the Midwest's, and the nation's, major telecommunications centers. So, if you need to get your network on track in Indianapolis, race on over to the Indy Telcom Center for a pit stop.
For more information on the Indy Telecom Center, contact Kent Hall at (317) 972-0849 or [email protected].
| Carrier | Carrier |
|---|---|
| AT&T | McLeod USA |
| AT&T Cellular | MFS |
| Broadwing | Norlight |
| Choice One | NuVox Communications |
| Cinergy/Kentucky Data Link | Qwest Communications |
| CityNet | Switch and Data |
| Elantic Telecom | Time Warner |
| Fiber Works | US Signal |
| Fibertech | WilTel Communications |
| First National Merchant Solutions | |
| Global Crossing | |
| Grande Communications | |
| Lifeline Data Centers, LLC | |
| MCI |
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Building size | 12 buildings, 280,000 sq. ft. total |
| Union building | No |
| Building generator | None |
| Generator rooms for tenants | Yes, within their space |
| Roof access | Yes |
| Tenant conduit rights | Yes |
| Is there a building meet me room? | Yes, several |
| Is this MMR the featured site? | Yes |
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Facility Size | A closet to 2,000 sq. ft. varying within each building |
| Suite | N/A |
| AC Power Feed | Limited power by location |
| Generator | None |
| Control System | N/A |
| UPS | N/A |
| DC Plant | N/A |
| HVAC | None |
| Fire Suppression | Combination of wet and dry pipe in common spaces |
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can customers order cross connects to any other meet area customer? | Yes |
| Is the average turnaround time for cross connects 48 hours or less? | N/A |
| Is on-site technical support available 24/7/365? | No |
| Can customers access the site 24/7/365? | Yes |
| Can the technicians test and turn up circuits? | Yes |
| Does the meet area operator perform the cross connect? | No |
| Can the customer perform the cross connect? | Yes |
| Are all cross connects tagged and inventoried? | No |
| Is there a shared fiber panel (MDF, CFDP)? | No |
| Can the customer bring and install its own fiber distribution panels? | Yes |
| Is there a shared COAX or copper panel? | No |
| Can the customer bring and install its own COAX or copper panel? | Yes |
| Are there monthly recurring charges to cross connect in the meet area? | No |
| For carriers not in the meet area, the interconnect options include | Management has constructed a conduit system interconnecting all 12 buildings. This conduit system can be utilized to interconnect carriers, or they can request to build new conduits between the sites. |
| The costs and availability are determined by | For new builds the management determines the costs by distance and availability. For existing conduits the carriers run the interconnections themselves. |
Originally published in FATPIPE magazine, November 2004.
