Fortune Data Centers

Excellent Network

Anytime a data center user leaves a known network hub like Silicon Valley or Northern Virginia, the first question on their minds is usually “What about the network?” And it is a valid question to ask, since the answer is often a bad one. In Hillsboro Oregon, however, the answer is fantastic.

Fortune Oregon 1 has six Tier 1 carriers on-property: Level 3, AboveNet, CenturyLink (Qwest), AT&T, Verizon Business and Tata Communications. The result: minimal latency to San Jose (17 msRT) and Seattle (3.5 msRT).

Verizon Business, Tata and Alaska Communications each have transpacific cable landing sites less than ½ mile from Fortune Oregon 1. What this means is that a Fortune Oregon 1 customer is able to get on-net to Tata’s cable to Japan, or Verizon’s cable to China, through optical switching only, never experiencing the latency of electronic switching. The result: the lowest latency to Asia of any wholesale data center in the United States — 87 msRT to Tokyo.

This compares to 1/5 ms RT to Tokyo from NTT’s facility in Seattle, which was previously considered to be the lowest latency to Asia data center in the US.

In addition, there are numerous regional carriers on-property, including Alaska Communications, LS Networks, TW Telecom, Comcast, Frontier, Integra, 360 Networks, NoahNet (BPA) and PGE.

So, how did all this fiber end up in Hillsboro, OR?

California’s coastal construction regulations are notoriously restrictive. Years ago, when the transpacific beach landings were being chosen, it was simply easier to work in Oregon, so most cables chose to land there, and then transport down to California. The result: the majority of transpacific cable, leading to northern California first, lands in Oregon.

The Oregon cable then comes toward Portland. 30+ years ago, when these cables were being built, Hillsboro was the westernmost edge of the Portland metro area. So, that’s where the transpacific carriers chose to build their termination points. The domestic fiber providers then built their underground cable plant out to these termination points. The result: the densest network of international and domestic cable in the Pacific Northwest.