Tier 2 Cities Get Much Needed Edge Data Centers®

By Lisa Huff

The Internet edge network is primarily located in Tier 1 cities. These municipalities are defined as Tier 1 because they contain Internet Exchanges (IXs). IXs or peering points are physical points in the network where carriers and some content providers interconnect their networks. Originally, there were only a handful of these Tier 1 exchanges in the US. Now, Discerning Analytics (DA) would consider the following metropolitan areas Tier 1 markets:  Atlanta, Boston, New York City, Washington DC/Ashburn, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Palo Alto/San Jose and Seattle. In addition, Phoenix, Houston and Las Vegas may soon be considered Tier 1. Just a review of the following table will show you why. It lists what DA currently considers Tier 2 markets. Some, like Phoenix, Houston and Las Vegas, already have sizeable IXs, while others do not. Those that have smaller or no IX would benefit from an interconnection service as well as an Edge Data Center®.

A Cross-section of Tier 2 Cities with Local Content Data Centers and Internet Exchanges
State	City	Size (sq-ft)	Data Center/IX Providers	Current Communications Service Providers	Known Content Providers
AZ	Phoenix	8,600	EdgeConneX	AT&T, CenturyLink, Cogent, Cox, ICFN, Integra, Level 3, XRP, Windstream, XO, Zayo	Akamai, Cox Communications, Google
		538k	IO Phoenix	Hibernia Networks, IO Data Centers, Layer42 Networks, TSIC, Login	Limelight Networks, Mozilla, TripAdvisor
		60,000	Phoenix IX, Telx Phoenix, Carpathia, CyrusOne IX, Swiftway	Over 20 network providers	Akamai, CloudFlare, Limelight Networks, Microsoft, TripAdvisor, Highwinds, Symantec
CA	Sacramento	6,700	EdgeConneX	CenturyLink, Comcast, Integra, Point to Point Communications, Sprint, XO, Zayo	Comcast
CA	San Diego	3,000	EdgeConneX	CenturyLink, Cogent, Cox, Level 3, Sprint, TelePacific, Verizon, XO, Zayo	Cox Communications, Google, Level 3
CO	Denver	6,000	EdgeConneX	AT&T, CenturyLink, Cogent, Comcast, Integra, Level 3, Windstream, XO, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3, Netflix
FL	Jacksonville	7,250	EdgeConneX	AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, DFS Fiber, FPL FiberNet, Level 3, Rail America, Verizon, XO, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3
		10,000	Cologix	Over 30 network providers	Amazon, Level 3
		?	Jacksonville Internet Exchange (JXIX), GoRack Datacenter	Avesta Networks, GoRACK, FPL Fibernet, Joytel Wireless, Nodes Direct, Packet Clearing House, twtelecom, Volume Drive	Akamai, Google, Level 3, Comcast
FL	Orlando	4,000	Level 3	Level 3, Cogent	Level 3
FL	Tallahassee	4,300	EdgeConneX	CenturyLink, Comcast, Level 3, Windstream, Zayo
FL	Tampa	9,116	365 Data Centers	AT&T, Bright House, CenturyLink, Cogent, FiberLight, FPL FiberNet, Level 3, TSIC, Verizon, XO, Zayo	Akamai, Netflix, Level 3, Earthlink, Time Warner Cable, Verizon
		10,000	WOW!business, Tampa IX (TPAIX)	WOW!, FPL FiberNet,	Akamai
		4,795	Level 3	Level 3, Cogent	Level 3
HI	Honolulu	20,000	DR Fortress Exchange	Over 10 network providers	Akamai, Microsoft

MI	Detroit	4,000	Detroit Internet Exchange (DET-IX), 123Net	123Net, ACD.net, Active Solutions Group, Clear Rate Communications, LightSpeed Communications, ManagedWay Company, Nexcess.net, Riverfront Communications, US Signal	A2 Hosting, MohoHost, Nexcess.net, Easy Online Solutions, LightSpeed Communications
		10,000	EdgeConneX	AT&T, CenturyLink, CenturyTel, Cogent, Comcast, ComLink, Level 3, TelNet, US Signal, Windstream, XO, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3
MN	Minneapolis	45,000	Midwest Internet Cooperative Exchange (MICE), Cologix	Over 30 network providers	Akamai, Google, Netflix
MO	Kansas City	7,000	Kansas City Internet Exchange	1&1 Internet, Google Fiber, Hibernia Networks, Hop Off a Cloud Networks, Hurricane Electric, KanREN, MOREnet, Northern Lights GigaPOP, TSIC, Wholesale Internet	Google Fiber
MO	St. Louis	8,663	365 Data Centers	Over 10 network providers	Amazon
NE	Omaha	?	OmahaIX, Nebraska Colocation Centers (NCC)	Over 40 network providers	Akamai, University of Nebraska at Omaha
NV	Reno	?	TahoeIX	High Desert Internet Services, Packet Clearing House, Roller Network, Tahoe Internet Exchange, Verisign	Akamai (pending)
NV	Las Vegas	4,100	EdgeConneX	Cogent, Cox, Integra, Sprint TelePacific, XO, Zayo	Akamai, Cox Communications, Google
		1M	SuperNAP (Nevada NAP)	Over 50 network providers	Ask.com, Box, FusionStorm, Limelight Networks, Microsoft, Mozy
NY	Buffalo	?	Buffalo Niagara International Internet Exchange, Data Centers Canada, ixColo	ClubMessage B.V., Fiber Networx, TeraGo Networks, WIN	Google, Yahoo!
PA	Philadelphia	230k	Equinix, Sungard, zColo	ATX Communications, Coretel America, DBSi, GTT, Hibernia Networks, Hotwire Communications, Inerail, Internap, Sting Communications, Xand	Netflix, EdgeCast Networks (now Verizon)
OR	Portland	6,000	EdgeConneX	Cogent, Comcast, Integra, Zayo	Comcast
		20k+	The Pittock Internet Exchange, Northwest Access Exchange, ViaWest, EasyStreet, LightPoint	More than 60	Akamai, Google, Netflix
PA	Pittsburgh	5,000	EdgeConneX	CenturyLink, Cogent, Comcast, DQE, Fibertech, Level 3, Sunesys, Windstream, XO	Comcast, Level 3
TN	Memphis	6,100	EdgeConneX	Comcast, Windstream, XO, Zayo	Comcast
TN	Nashville	5,500	EdgeConneX	Comcast, Cogent, Level 3, NESnet, Windstream, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3
TX	Austin	70,000	CyrusOne IX Austin	CyrusOne, Google Fiber, Inerail, InfoWest, Internet FX, Syringa Networks, Tonaquint Data Center, Veracity Networks	Google Fiber, Mozy, WebNX
TX	Houston	11,100	EdgeConneX	Alpheus, AT&T, Cogent, Level 3, Zayo	Akamai, Comcast, Level 3
		320k	CyrusOne IX Houston	Comcast, CyrusOne, Southeast Texas GigaPOP/Rice University Wolfe	Comcast, Microsoft, Netflix
UT	Salt Lake City	5,400	EdgeConneX	AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Integra, Level 3, Utopia, Verizon, Windstream, XO, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3
		33,386	ViaWest	Google Fiber, Inerall, Level 3	Google Fiber
VA	Norfolk	5,100	EdgeConneX	Cogent, Cox, Level 3, Lumos Networks, Windstream, XO	Cox Communications
VA	Richmond	7,660	EdgeConneX	Comcast, FiberLight, Level 3, Lumos Networks, Summit IG, Windstream, Zayo	Comcast, Level 3
		5,000	RVA-IX, Pixel Factory Data Center	Cogent, Comcast, Level 3, Pixel Factory Data Center, VA SkyWire, Global Web Solutions, Windstream, Zayo	Akamai, Comcast

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but to demonstrate a few co-location data center companies that are addressing the content delivery issue in smaller municipalities. EdgeConneX leads the way. In fact, Edge Data Centers is EdgeConneX’s registered trademark. However, others like Cologix and 365 Data Centers are beginning to realize the business potential of providing content delivery nearer to the end users – or as some in the industry would say “closer to the eyeballs.” In addition to those that we mentioned above, some of these other cities, including Jacksonville, Austin, Buffalo/Niagara, Portland, Tampa, Detroit, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Richmond and even Omaha and Reno have actually formed new formal Internet Exchanges to help facilitate improved interconnection and content delivery. But, that really is not enough. While local peering points will facilitate local traffic, only edge data centers will alleviate overburdened content delivery network connections to Tier 1 points – where the content for many applications reside.

It is important to distinguish the difference between a Tier 2 edge data center and a co-location data center in a Tier 2 market. The main difference is that the Tier 2 edge data center truly moves the edge of the network closer to the end user – so the content is housed within this data center as opposed to being delivered from the “nearest” Tier 1 city. For example, EdgeConneX has an edge data center in Salt Lake City because its clients/tenants are delivering content directly from it to the consumers in the area. So far Comcast and Level 3 are the only content providers, but we expect to see many more based on relationships they have in other cities – like having Google in their Phoenix data center. In contrast, ViaWest has several co-location facilities in Salt Lake City, but no product for interconnection of content providers outside the greater Salt Lake City Area.  That content comes from Denver, Chicago or Minneapolis where ViaWest connects to an Internet Exchange or content delivery network (CDN). There is an obvious advantage to having the content closer to you – in this instance; any of your video-on-demand programs from Comcast would load faster with less distortion because there is a much shorter distance that the signal has to travel.

CyrusOne is tackling the content delivery issues a little differently. They have launched a product known as National IX. Its marketing material claims its National IX “can be more resilient and deliver a better connection to your clients when connected to CyrusOne’s top-tier, highly redundant facilities using National IX.” This service really just connects all of CyrusOne’s data centers, which means if Netflix is one of its tenants, other tenants could connect to them. It still does not deliver data from the immediate area – it is not an edge data center. While Cologix and 365 Data Centers have content providers in their data centers, they do not have a concerted effort (at least that we can tell) to do this in all of their data centers. 

It would be nice to be able to watch a Netflix movie without it freezing up or quitting all together because it has to travel on a shared network for more than 300 miles to get to the television. For many end users today, on-demand viewing can be very frustrating. All Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets would benefit from having true edge data centers. Hopefully, we will be seeing more co-location data center suppliers rising to the challenge of delivering them as well as more content providers taking space in them.