LayerOne Announces Colocation Network

Dallas-based startup has eight sites under construction

By Rich Miller
CarrierHotels News Staff

July 11, 2000 -- LayerOne, Inc., a Dallas-based startup, today announced plans to create a global network of carrier-grade neutral colocation sites.
LayerOne already operates sites in Chicago and Miami and is constructing facilities in Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Francisco and St. Louis. The company, which outlined an "aggressive" three-year build strategy, said it has signed leases for another two facilities and expects to have a total of 12 sites fully operational by year-end.
"The scarcity of colocation space is a bottle neck impeding new entrants into telephony, data and Internet-based markets,'' said Alexander Muse, co-founder and CEO of LayerOne. "Currently, communication service providers are losing potential bandwidth sales for want of enough space to house a couple of racks or cabinets of equipment."
The company's facilities are located within carrier hotels, with connections to a dense mesh of telecommunication and data networks, ensuring customers have quick-and-easy connectivity to service providers.
LayerOne, which gets its name from the primary layer of the Open Systems Interconnection model that defines connectivity standards, provides physical facilities that offer connectivity to multiple providers of voice, data and Internet service.
The company will brand its properties as NEXUS(TM) facilities, reflecting the creation of a nexus between voice and data networks. The approach includes a menu of client services, including simple test and turn-up of equipment, customized connections, remote power management, shared communications platforms and peering services.
"While there is tremendous demand now for any carrier-grade colocation space, soon the savviest players will look for a turnkey solution with premium connectivity services built in,'' said Muse.