Data centers have become a hot commodity, which is expected to keep growing. With Internet Exchanges (IX) and data centers focusing on speed and efficiency, it is necessary for Kansas City data centers to up their game.
IXs and major content providers share colocation space at data centers, significantly increasing the number of companies involved.
Looking at IXs in Europe, local traffic is increasingly staying local. This same pattern is expected to be adopted in North America and lead to:
In the early days of the Internet, many peering agreements were between engineers.
These usually had text that fits on a single sheet of paper, and sometimes they didn’t have any text at all.
However, things have changed since then, and peering agreements have become legal contracts.
Almost all of these contracts are settlement-free.
In some cases, when interconnecting with a third-party data center, the costs are shared between networks.
In order to operate a successful Kansas City data center, you must pay attention to good management protocols and peering agreements. With growing traffic demands, the right peering agreements will directly impact the delivery of an effective and efficient service.
These days with the popularity of cloud computing, providers are looking to connect directly to deliver the fastest possible access at any time and anywhere.
Arguments about net neutrality have dominated the headlines, with the main issues focused on paid and unpaid peering arrangements.
However, on a basic level, keeping costs low and providing content quickly revolves around ISPs keeping local traffic local.
Kansas City has some of the country’s leading data centers, like 1102 Grand, Cavern Technologies, and Netsolus. Out of these companies, the Kansas City data center that’s leading the way is 1102 Grand with Kansas City’s Carrier Hotel.
Developed by the Kansas City Internet eXchange (KCIX), the upgrades to the peering fabric offer 10G and 1G ports. This will enable content providers and ISPs in the area the ability to keep traffic fast and local. Further, this eliminates the need to exchange traffic from hubs such as Chicago or Dallas.
According to its co-founder Aaron Wendell, "The new fabric and active support from 1102 Grand ownership will enable us to deliver a carrier-grade, best-in-class peering infrastructure that will attract and serve the needs of world-class carriers for years to come."
Another Kansas City data center that is a major player is Netsolus. The company has the infrastructure to offer exceptional peering arrangements through various transit services like Cogent, Global Crossing, Level 3, and UUNet.
Are you operating a data center in Kansas City? Have you had to deal with peering arrangements? Tell us about it in the Comments section below.