The Birth of Telx and the Meet-Me Room (Cont.d)
Those 3 series – NEXUS, "Meet Me In..", and Big Apps – established a few things.
I got to define the new emerging category of Meet Me Rooms. This was important because no one really knew the difference between interconnection and hosting as primary businesses and the different physical and business model attributes that came with each. This is the same as with interconnection and data centers today, as a Meet Me Room full of fiber distribution panels is not the same as a data center full of GPUs. Not in design, not in cost to operate, not in power, or cooling requirements and not in revenue, or margins. They are quite different in function and form, so it was helpful and necessary to explain the differences.
I got to put telx into the newly defined Meet Me Room category. This established telx as “the” Meet Me Room to go to in New York City and by featuring the other dominant sites in the other major cities in North America at the time, it put telx on the same level. This became very useful in future years with a loose-knit association I created called the Carrier Hotel Alliance, made up of the owners of many of the Carrier Hotels I featured.
I established myself as a journalist writing a series on these specific types of assets. That made me a subject matter expert in the public eye and gave me a currency to trade with - published articles. This way, when I called the owners of these buildings on my map as a journalist wanting to write a story about their building, instead of hanging up on me, they would tell me everything.
The Meet Me In series was my preemptive due diligence strategy for my national roll-up of the key Carrier Hotels in the US.
As of August 2025, I have been involved in acquisition and sale transactions involving the Carrier Hotel building itself, Meet Me Room in the Carrier Hotel itself, or both in 12 out of the 21 cities featured in the series. These began with the acquisition of 56 Marietta St. in Atlanta, Georgia in May 2004 while I was with telx and 8 transactions involving 5 sites in those cities that weren’t covered in the original series. Beyond the 21 featured cities, I have been involved in Carrier Hotel and Meet Me Room acquisition and sale transactions in 5 other cities, including one of my all-time favorites, 1102 Grand Blvd in Kansas City, MO and also 1301 Fannin St in Houston, TX, which only goes to show that there are always more places to find opportunity than originally known, or considered in this business. Best of all, throughout this entire journey, I have developed great relationships with the original owners of many of those sites that I still have to this day.
The first Carrier Hotel that I led the acquisition of was 56 Marietta St in Atlanta, GA. I published the “Meet Me in Atlanta” article in April 2003 and telx acquired 56 Marietta St in May of 2004. This acquisition captured the attention of the industry. Many wondered how telx, from New York, could go to Atlanta and expect to compete with the existing neutral colocation businesses in the market, located at 56 Marietta. When asked, I would simply say, “As long as they keep paying their rent on time there shouldn’t be any problems.” That would usually elicit a puzzled look and then the question, “Why do you care about their rent, telx is a colo business?” I would respond, “We bought the building. They are one of the tenants. They pay me rent. telx now owns the building Meet Me Room and the whole building. Those colo companies have a presence in the MMR to connect to the other networks there and elsewhere in the building. We control that.” Dumbfounded shock and bewilderment typically ensued. It was a mindbender for sure.
In October 2006 telx was acquired by GI Partners and on December 31, 2006 telx acquired all 10 of the Meet Me Rooms in the Digital Realty Trust Carrier Hotel portfolio. With the DRT deal, telx expanded its carrier-neutral Meet Me Room concept into major Carrier Hotels in key markets including San Francisco, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Charlotte, Miami and Chicago, as well as sites in Weehawken, NJ and Santa Clara, CA, creating a National Meet Me Room standard in the U.S.
This is a list of the sites that I have been a partner and have held a variety of roles in, depending on the site and timeframe, including: site identification, leading the acquisition, raising capital, redesign/developed the MMR, lead strategy, sales, marketing, overall site physical design of the MMR and fiber entrances, negotiation customer contracts, drafting language, running the M&A banking process and ultimately exited as an equity partner.
Each site has one, or more designation, depending on if it was a fully owned site, or a leasehold and, or if I had featured the site in my original Meet Me Series.
- LTL MMR - Long Term Lease Meet Me Room
- OB MMR - Owned Building and Meet Me Room
- MMS - Featured in the Original Meet Me Series
The list:
- 60 Hudson St NYC telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 56 Marietta St Atlanta, GA telx (OB MMR) (MMS)
- 350 E Cermak Rd, Chicago, telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 600 S Federal St, Chicago telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 120 E Van Buren St Phoenix, AZ telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 200 Paul Ave San Francisco, CA telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 600 West 7th St Los Angeles, CA telx (LTL MMR)
- 1100 Space Park Drive Santa Clara, CA telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 113 N Myers St Charlotte, NC telx (LTL MMR)
- 36 NE 2nd St Miami telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 2323 Bryan St Dallas, TX telx (LTL MMR) (MMS)
- 300 JFK Blvd East Weehawken, NJ telx (LTL MMR)
- 111 8th Ave NYC telx (LTL MMR)
- 1025 Old Country Road, Westbury, NY - LIDARC, ancotel USA, 1025Connect (LTL MMR)
- 325 Hudson St NYC Hunter Newby & Amerimar (OB MMR)
- 882 3rd Ave, Industry City, DataVerge (LTL MMR) *Board Member
- 55 Marietta St, Colo ATL (LTL MMR)
- 1410 Wall Church Road, Wall, NJ NJFX (OB MMR)
- 1102 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO Netrality (OB MMR)
- 401 North Broad St Philadelphia, PA Netrality (OB MMR) (MMS)
- 717 S Wells St, Chicago Netrality (OB MMR)
- 1301 Fannin St Houston, TX Netrality (OB MMR)
- 210 North Tucker Blvd St Louis, MO Netrality (OB MMR) (MMS)
- 900 Walnut St St Louis, MO Netrality (OB MMR) (MMS)
- 770 St George Blvd Moncton, NB, Canada - Fibre Centre (OB MMR)
Of the 25 sites, 12 of them were sites that I featured in my original Meet Me In Series, and 11 of them before I was ever involved with the property. The only exception was telx 60 Hudson. The first article in the Series.
Overcoming Challenges
AI Agent Hunter: What challenges did you face in building neutrality?
Hunter: Neutrality is a business philosophy that you either possess, or do not. The philosophy is put in to action within a facility that is designed and built in accordance with that philosophy. It can be seen in the physical attributes of the building and its elements. The access manholes, the number of innerducts and conduits, the amount of space for fiber slack coils and fiber distribution panels for multi-network interconnection, etc.
Building a carrier-neutral interconnection facility is a design, engineering and construction project, but that kind of building almost any one can do. Anyone can slap a label on a building and call it whatever. That doesn’t mean that the building actually is that just because the builder, or owner said so. The true magic is in building a carrier-neutral interconnection community of networks in the facility that all believe and adhere to the same philosophy. Neutrality is fairness. That is what makes it real and delivers on the value proposition. Without the networks present and engaging in the philosophy, it’s just an idea. It’s just words.
The first challenge with the original facility was convincing networks to participate. They were not used to being fair to each other. This is where the use of the buying power of the telx minutes business was very helpful. Revenue is a motivator and business case justification for a network to build in, but that alone did not convince them to build in enough capacity for growth to sell to other networks in the same facility. That took time. It was a new concept.
At the time, many networks were used to competing, not collaborating. Some were hesitant to trust a neutral facility. But once they saw the benefits—reduced costs, faster connections—they started engaging. Eventually, networks wanted to be at telx just to connect to the other networks already there. That is when we decided to exit the minutes business and just focus on the interconnection business.
Obviously, acquiring 56 Mareitta came with in-place Net Operating Income (NOI), so it was self-funding. The implementation of the telx MMR model into 56 Marietta only enhanced what was already there. Plus, several of the national carriers that were in 56 were already customers of telx at 60, so they knew what to expect when they heard we were the new owner. It was well-received by them and they really helped us build local relationships. Local contacts and local knowledge always wins.
After I published the article on 56 I spent many months going to Atlanta to build a relationship with the owners. I showed them how to design their MMR for maximum efficiency and told them that if they followed my advice it would only help down the road when I came back to buy the building. I told them I would help them increase their NOI and show them how to do it and all that I asked in return was that if they ever decided to sell the building that they would call me. I said I would pay the most because I understood the building better than anyone else. So, that’s what happened.
Beyond the MMR layout, I helped them with marketing, sales, and hosting customer events at the building. This is something I started at telx in NYC. We called it the Customer Business eXchange, CBX. At 56, before telx acquired the building, we called it the “Meet n Greet” and “Lunch n Learn”. They, the prior owners, would get Chick Fil A and I would fly in from NYC to give a presentation on the Carrier Hotels of North America from my research. Those events at 56 led to many new customers for them, including Turner Broadcasting, before telx acquired the building.
One might say I helped them get me to over-pay for the building, but when we met they weren’t ready to sell. I look at it like I was paying it forward and earning their trust. I think it worked. I repeated this process several times and acquired many of the Carrier Hotels and, or MMRs that I featured in the Meet Me In series as a result.
Another challenge was logistical. Setting up a Meet-Me Room required more than just space in a building. We had to design and install infrastructure, from cabling and panels to monitoring systems, fiber entrances from the street, risers and shafts between the floors, roof space for generators and chillers, and more. We also had to establish clear processes for managing connections and maintaining neutrality. Cable lacing in the ladder racks and cross-connect management in the fiber raceway and between customer panels was crucial. Maximizing space to the inch from the outset was vital for the long term success and profitability of the facility.
Applying that discipline from the start of an empty facility took vision and dedication. It is easy to get sloppy if you don’t see the big picture and that handicaps growth down the line. In a vibrant, popular facility you eventually run out of space for cabling, panels, racks, cabinets, etc, so you want to maximize every inch. It was complex, but the results made it worth the effort. Fanatical attention to these details enabled the ability to physically scale the business to its maximum potential.
The Rise of Telx
AI Agent Hunter: How did Telx change the industry?
Hunter:
Telx set a new standard for neutral interconnection. By creating a consistent, transparent, and neutral model, we made it easier for networks to connect. The ripple effects were enormous. Each new connection added value, attracting even more networks. Over time, this snowball effect turned telx into a leader in carrier-neutral interconnection. We didn’t stop at 60 Hudson Street.
Using the same principles, we expanded into other key markets, creating a national standard for Meet-Me Rooms. By 2007 telx was operating in multiple Carrier Hotels across the country, transforming the way networks interconnected. Telx set a new standard for interconnection. Its facilities were not just neutral—they were consistent, efficient, and transparent. This reliability was key. Networks knew that when they connected through a telx meet-me room, they could expect the same high level of service regardless of location.
Telx didn’t just facilitate connections—it created an ecosystem where networks could thrive. Each new connection added value, encouraging other networks to join. This snowball effect made telx a leader in carrier-neutral interconnection and demonstrated the power of neutrality to drive industry-wide growth.
In addition, telx provided its customers with added value by promoting their services offerings to the other customers in the facility. This was a built-in marketing function just for being a telx customer. For many of the smaller networks this was very well received because they did not have their own internal marketing departments. This gave them visibility to the larger networks to sell their services and it also gave the larger networks visibility into who was at telx that they would have otherwise never known about.
Telx did this in many ways.
The telx Network News email newsletter, which today seems like no big deal, but back in 1999 it was new. We highlighted new customers to the facility and promoted existing customer’s new service offerings to the other networks in the facility. In the carrier wholesale industry everyone competes, but they also all buy and sell with each other, so this was a very effective way to generate deals for our customers, which kept them happy and paying their rent on time, as well as attracting new customers to the facility that wanted to simply have us promote them to everyone else. Built-in marketing for the price of colocation that they would have to pay somewhere else anyway.
The telx Customer Business Exchange (CBx) events in New York City, with its own show guide magazine highlighting customer service offerings, with a show floor layout in A-Z order by customer name so that any buyer could easily see the special offer of the day and walk directly to the exhibit table of the provider and a One-on-One Meeting System via the website that allowed registered attendees to set meetings at specific tables, like speed dating, before the event. Revolutionary! It had never been done before in the industry. This started in the telx office at 17 State St in New York City with about 30 people and grew to over 1000 attendees at its peak, being hosted at 60 Hudson St, The Puck Building in SoHo and ultimately Cipriani on Wall Street during my years there.
Telx Select Events, which were smaller versions of the larger cbX, but held in the other telx markets. Same concept, but more specialized to the given city we were in.
TelxVision - our own YouTube Channel in 2007 to record, produce, post and promote video interviews with customers about their business and what they offer. Content creation and being an influencer before it was a thing!
Telx Technology Showcase - dedicated space, behind glass on the 9th floor of 60 Hudson St where we would host and promote the latest and greatest networking equipment in the industry. It was a “live lab” for hardware vendors to trial their equipment and get visibility to the 1000’s of network operators that would walk through the facility each year. This also gave telx technicians an opportunity to learn and test the newest technologies, such as Dense Wave Division Multiplexing when it was new, which helped make the telx techs some of the best in the world for dealing with technical interoperation issues.
All of this in combination with the best sales, technical, billing and logistics support teams in the industry made telx standout all over the world.
The Power of Neutrality
AI Agent Hunter: What does neutrality look like in practice?
Hunter: Neutrality is about fairness and openness. A neutral interconnection facility doesn’t favor any network over another. It doesn’t compete with its customers. Instead, it focuses on providing infrastructure and ensuring that every participant has equal access. Really good neutral facilities promote the services of its customers to each other. This drives value for the customer and keeps them referring more business to the site. They also dont mind paying their monthly charges as much since the owner of the site helps them increase monthly recurring revenue.
There is a nuance in this if the neutral facility charges monthly recurring cross-connect fees, or not. If there are no monthly recurring cross connect fees then the customers view the “marketplace” of the facility favorably. If the facility does charge a monthly recurring cross-connect fee then the customers tend to see it as a tax on their service revenue and individual transactions completed in that facility and would rather find another facility to deliver the service in. This is why most facility owners that charge monthly recurring cross-connect fees do not invest heavily in promoting their customers’ services to each other as there is no guarantee that any connections facilitated by them will actually take place in their facility, so therefore no clear ROI.
Some facilities that do not charge a monthly recurring cross-connect fee will still invest in promoting customers services to each other because they see the benefit in leveraging their customers service offerings to attract new networks to the facility simply for the monthly fees for space, access and power. It is just a different way to look at the business. Typically, the no MRC XC fee models are found in early-stage MMRs. After a MMR business is acquired it is usually just a matter of time before the new owners, often backed by private investment capital, seek to accelerate, or enhance their returns, so they pick the low hanging fruit and assess monthly recurring fees to all of the cross-connects in the facility and for all going forward cross-connects. This is a big topic in the industry today.
In practical terms, neutrality means:
Non-Carrier ownership: The facility doesn’t operate its own network, avoiding conflicts of interest.
Fair pricing: All networks pay the same rates for the same services at the same service levels.
Transparency: Networks know exactly what they’re paying for, with no hidden fees or surprises.
Fair Treatment: First-come, first-served. No blocking, or denial of requests for service because of a perceived “competitive threat”.
The Long-Term Impact
AI Agent Hunter: Looking back, what do you think is the legacy of Telx and neutrality?
Hunter: Telx demonstrated that neutrality works at scale and acquiring the real estate (land and building) was strategic for control, which led to protection of the business model, costs and value creation. It showed that creating a level playing field benefits everyone—networks, businesses, and end-users. By making interconnection faster, more cost-effective, and more accessible, it helped shape the Internet we all rely on today. Telx was ultimately acquired by Digital Realty Trust and no longer exists, but the spirit of carrier-neutral interconnection lives on in many other businesses and Carrier Hotels around the world.
There’s still more to do. Many regions still lack access to neutral interconnection points, and the digital divide persists. Expanding the carrier-neutral model to underserved areas is critical for ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities to connect and grow.
AI Summary
In chapter 3, Hunter Newby reflected on the creation of telx and the carrier-neutral Meet-Me Room. By fostering collaboration and eliminating barriers, neutrality revolutionized interconnection and set the stage for future innovation. As the story continues, we’ll explore how this model expanded beyond major cities to underserved regions, bridging the digital divide and creating new opportunities.
