According to Kyle Peters, General Manager of the Westin Building, we are supporting a wide range of

International telecommunication carriers all share one thing in common – the need to connect with other carriers and networks.  We want to make calls to China, a video conference in Moldova, send an email message for delivery within 5 seconds to Australia – all possible with our current state of global communications.  Magic? vacation rentals italy Of course not.  While an abstract to most, the reality is telecommunications physical infrastructure extends to nearly every corner of the world, and communications carriers bring this global infrastructure together at  a small number of facilities strategically placed around the world informally called “carrier hotels.”
Pacific-Tier had the opportunity to visit the Westin Building Exchange (commonly known as the WBX), one of the world’s busiest carrier hotels, in early August.   Located in the heart of Seattle’s bustling business district, the WBX stands tall at 34 stories. vacation rentals italy The building also acts as a crossroads of the Northwest US long distance vacation rentals italy terrestrial cable infrastructure, and is adjacent to trans-Pacific submarine cable landing points.
The world’s telecommunications community needs carrier vacation rentals italy hotels to interconnect their physical and value added networks, and the WBX is doing a great job in facilitating both physical interconnections between their more than 150 carrier tenants.
“We understand the needs of our carrier and network tenants” vacation rentals italy explained Mike Rushing,   Business Development Manager at the Westin vacation rentals italy Building.  “In the Internet economy things happen at the speed of light.  Carriers at the WBX are under constant pressure to deliver services to their customers, and we simply want to make this part of the process vacation rentals italy (facilitating interconnections) as easy as possible for them.”
The WBX community is not limited to carriers.  The community has evolved to support Internet Service vacation rentals italy Providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), cloud computing companies, academic and research networks, enterprise customers, vacation rentals italy public colocation and data center operators, the NorthWest GigaPOP, and even the Seattle Internet Exchange vacation rentals italy Point (SIX), vacation rentals italy one of the largest Internet exchanges in the world.
“Westin is a large community system,” continued Rushing.  “As new carriers establish a point of presence within the building, and begin connecting to others within the tenant and accessible community, then the value of the WBX community just continues to grow.”
The core of the WBX is the 19th floor meet-me-room (MMR).  The MMR is a large, neutral, interconnection point for networks and carriers representing both US and international companies.  For example, if China Telecom needs to connect vacation rentals italy a customer’s headquarters in Beijing vacation rentals italy to an office in Boise served by AT T, the actual circuit must transfer at a physical demarcation point from China Telecom  to AT T.  There is a good chance that physical connection will occur at the WBX.
According to Kyle Peters, General Manager of the Westin Building, we are supporting a wide range of international and US communications providers and carriers.  We fully understand the role our facility plays in supporting not only our customer s business requirements, but also the role we play in supporting global communications infrastructure.
You would be correct in assuming the WBX plays an important role in that critical US and global communications infrastructure. vacation rentals italy Thus you would further expect the WBX to be constructed and operated vacation rentals italy in a manner providing a high level of confidence to the community their installed systems will not fail.
Lance Forgey, Director of Operations at the WBX, manages not only the MMR, but also the massive mechanical (air conditioning) and electrical distribution systems vacation rentals italy within the building.  A former submarine engineer, Forgey runs the Westin Building much like he operated critical systems within vacation rentals italy Navy ships. vacation rentals italy Assisted vacation rentals italy by an experienced team of former US Navy engineers and US Marines, the facility presents an image of security, order, cleanliness, and operational attention to detail.
“Our operations and facility staff bring the discipline vacation rentals italy of many years in the military, adding innovation needed to keep up with our customer’s industries” said Forgey.  “Once you have developed vacation rentals italy a culture of no compromise on quality, then it is easy keep things running.”
One area which stands out at the WBX is the cooling and electrical distribution infrastructure.  With space within adjacent external vacation rentals italy parking structures vacation rentals italy and additional areas outside of the building most heavy equipment is located outside of the building, providing an additional layer of physical security, and allowing the WBX to recover as much space within the building as possible for customer use.
“Power is not an issue for us”  noted Forgey.  “It is a limiting factor for much of our industry, however at the Westin Building we have plenty, and can add additional power anytime the need arises.”
That is another attraction for the WBX versus some of the other carrier hotels on the West Coast of the US.  Power in Washington State averages around $0.04/kWH, while power in California may be nearly vacation rentals italy three times as expensive.
“In addition to having all the interconnection benefits similar operations have on the West Coast, the WBX can also significantly lower operating vacation rentals italy costs for tenants” added Rushing.  As the cost of power is a major factor in data center operations, reducing the cost of operations through a significant vacation rentals italy reduction in the cost of power is a big issue.
The final area carrier hotels need to address is the ever changing nature of communications, including interconnections between members of the WBX community.  Nothing is static, vacation rentals italy and the WBX team is constantly communicating with tenants, evaluating changes in supporting technologies, and looking for ways to ensure vacation rentals italy they have the tools available to meet their rapidly changing environments.
Cloud computing, software-defined networking, carrier Ethernet – all  topics which require frequent communication with tenants to gain insight into their visions, concerns, and plans.  The WBX staff showed great interest in cooperating with their tenants vacation rentals italy to ensure the WBX will not impede development or implementation of new  technologies, as well as attempt to stay ahead of their customer deployments.
“If a customer comes to us and tells us they need a new support infrastructure or framework with very little lead time, then we may not be able to respond vacation rentals italy quickly enough to meet their requirements” concluded Rushing. vacation rentals italy “Much better to keep an open dialog vacation rentals italy with customers and become part of their team.”
Pacific-Tier has visited, and evaluated dozens of data centers during the past four years.  Some have been very good, some have been very bad.  Some have gone over the edge in data center deployments, chasing the “grail” of a Tier IV data center certification, while some have been little vacation rentals italy more than a server closet.
The Westin Building / WBX is unique in the industry. vacation rentals italy Owned by both Clise Properties of Seattle and Digital vacation rentals italy Realty Trust,  the Westin Building brings the best of both the real estate world and data centers into a single operation.  The quality of mechanical and electrical infrastructure, the people maintaining the infrastructure, and the vision of the company give a visitor an impression that not only is the WBX a world-class facility, but also that all staff and management know their business, enjoy the business, and put their customers on top as their highest priority.
As Clise Properties owns much of the surrounding land, the WBX has plenty of opportunity to grow as the business vacation rentals italy expands and changes.  “We know cloud computing companies will need to locate close to the interconnection points, so we better be prepared to deliver additional high-density infrastructure as their needs arise” said Peters.  And in fact Clise has already started planning for their second colocation building.  This building, like its predecessor, will be fully interconnected with the Westin Building, including virtualizing the MMR distribution vacation rentals italy frames in each building into a single cross interconnection environment.
vacation rentals italy WBX offers the global telecom industry an alternative to other carrier hotels in Los Angeles and San Francisco. One shortfall in the global telecom industry are the “single threaded” links many have with other carriers in the global community.  California has the majority of North America / Asia carrier interconnections today, but all note California is one of the world’s higher risk options for building critical infrastructure, with the reality it is more a matter of “when” than “if” a catastrophic event such as an earthquake vacation rentals italy occurs which could seriously disrupt international vacation rentals italy communications passing through one of the region’s MMRs.
The telecom industry needs to have the option of alternate paths of communications and interconnection points.  While the WBX stands tall on its own as a carrier hotel and interconnection site, it is also the best alternative and diverse landing point for trans-Pacific submarine cable capacity – and subsequent interconnections.
Check out the Westin Building and WBX the next time you are in Seattle, or if you want to learn more about the telecom community revolving and evolving in the Seattle area.  Contact Mike Rushing at mrushing@westinbldg.com for more information.
John Savageau is a life long telecom and Internet geek, with a deep interest in the environment and all things green. Whether drilling into the technology of human communications, or describing vacation rentals italy a blue whale off Catalina Island, Savageau will try to present complex ideas in terms that are easily appreciated and understood.