Meet Me in Seattle
June 1, 2003
Editor's note: This is the fifth installment in a series looking at the dominant "meet me" facilities in 10 major North American cities. Author Hunter Newby was chief strategy officer of TELX at the time of publication. Reader suggestions for the final city to be covered in this series were sent to Hunter at [email protected].
By and large, the place many carriers find they "must be" when exchanging traffic in Seattle is The Westin Building, one of the largest "carrier hotels" in the United States. Most interconnect facilities in the area generally are home to no more than seven carriers. The Westin Building, on the other hand, offers access to virtually every carrier in the Pacific Northwest including access to the northbound and eastbound fiber routes.
The Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX) and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop (PNWGP) also are located inside The Westin Building. What makes the Westin Building unique in its market is the original "meet me room" model that has been adopted by the building management to facilitate the thousands of interconnects which take place within the facility.
The MMRs are state of the art areas centrally located within the building that facilitate easy access to new and existing high-rise and low-rise cable risers. The MMRs allow tenant-to-tenant cross connects to occur 24 hours a day at the tenant's convenience.
These amenities are a key offering that allows for competition of network bandwidth where customers can select from criteria unique to their applications and specifications.
Additionally, the Westin Building offers turnkey telecommunications facilities that allow direct fiber and copper access to the meet me rooms. The Westin Building offers extensive infrastructure including diverse fiber-optic building entrances, multiple fire suppression systems, building condenser water system, building maintained back-up emergency generators, diesel fuel storage, AC & DC power plants, 24 x 7 building attendants, card key access systems and closed circuit TV continuous video recording of all entries.
The management of the Westin Building is solid with more than 100 years of real estate history in Seattle. This, and the commitment to the telecom industry, is unique and fundamental to its success.
For more information, contact The Westin Building Telecommunications Facility at (206) 443-1800, [email protected]; or contact Michael Boyle at [email protected].
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Building size | 387,823 square feet on 34 floors |
| Union building | No |
| Building generator | Building maintained "Essential Power System;" back-up generators provide emergency electrical power for all services. |
| Generator rooms for tenants | Yes |
| Roof access | Yes |
| Tenant conduit rights | Yes |
| Is there a building meet me room? | Yes, 5 unique rooms |
| Is this MMR the featured site? | Yes |
| 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? | Yes |
| Is on-site technical support available 24/7/365? | Yes |
| 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 |
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Facility size | The building maintains in excess of 3,000 sq. ft. of meet me room/interconnect facilities. |
| Suite | Meet me rooms are located on both 19th and 20th floors. |
| AC power feed | The Westin Building meet me rooms are passive interconnect rooms. Convenience outlets are located within the facilities for termination and testing equipment. |
| Generator | See building generator information above; 14 generators in all. |
| Control system | The building maintains an extensive control and surveillance system for all sensitive areas of the building, utilizing C-cure, Isys, Alerton, Datatrax. |
| UPS | Multiple facilities throughout the building offer UPS battery and generator back-up power. |
| DC plant | Multiple DC power plants are located throughout building telecommunications facilities. |
| HVAC | 2,500-ton Condenser Water Loop |
| Fire suppression | Building maintained pre-action and FM 200 systems are available. |
| 2alpha | GCI | SBC Internet Services |
| 360networks | Global Crossing | Seimens Medical Solutions |
| AboveNet Communications, Inc. | Globix Corp. | Semaphore Corporation |
| Academia Sinica | Go.com | Sense Networking/The River Internet Access Co. |
| Acumen Associates | Grande Communications | Sentris Network, LLC |
| Advanced TelCom Group, Inc. | Group Telecom | Shaw Communications, Inc. |
| Altopia Corporation | Integrated Communications Consultants | SingAREN |
| Amazon.com, Inc. | Interland | Seattle Internet Exchange |
| Amerion | InterNap | Sprint Canada |
| Apollo Communications | ISOMEDIA, Inc. | StarNet, Inc. |
| Arch Wireless | Jazzie Systems | Swiftdesk |
| ARINC | King County Institutional Network (I-Net) | Switch and Data |
| AT&T | Level 3 Communications | Telus |
| AT&T Broadband/Comcast | Looking Glass Networks | Terabeam |
| AT&T Canada | McLeod USA | The River Internet Access Co. |
| Bell Nexxia | Metropolitan Fiber Networks | Time Warner Telecom |
| Beyond the Network | Microsoft Corp. | Touch America |
| Broadwing Communications | Nack.Net, Inc. | TSCNet Online Services |
| Cellular Express | Network OS | Universal Access |
| CenturyTel, Inc. | Nexion | VarTec Telecom, Inc. |
| Cidera | Northwest Link | Verizon Northwest, Inc. |
| CM2.COM, Inc. | Northwest Microwave | Verizon Wireless |
| Cogent Communications | Northwest Open Access Network | Vision Net, Inc. |
| COMindico Australia Pty Ltd | NTT/Verio | Washington Dept. of Information Services |
| Compass Communications Inc. | OneEighty Networks, Inc. | WebUseNet Corp. |
| Concord Technologies | OneStar | Who's Calling |
| Connect Northwest Internet Svs. | Pacific Northwest Gigapop | WilTel Communications |
| Corban Communications | Packet Clearing House | Winstar |
| Cortland Electronics Corp. | Peer1 Network | WoodyNet |
| Delta Communications | Pocketinet Communications, Inc. | WorldCom |
| Digital Marketing | Pointshare Corp. | XO Communications |
| EarthLink, Inc. | Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. | Yipes Communications, Inc. |
| Electric Lightwave, Inc. | Qwest Communications | Zhonka |
| Epoch Internet | RealNetworks, Inc. | Zocalo |
| Fisher Communications | RGnet/PSGnet | |
| Fox Communications, Corp. | Savvis Communications |
Originally published in FAT PIPE magazine, June 2003.
