What is a Meet-Me room?
A meet-me room (MMR) is a place inside a data center where different telecom and network companies connect their equipment to share data and traffic between their networks.
What Is the Process of Data Exchange?
First, you need to connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to send data online.
When two companies are far apart, like in different countries or continents, they use a global ISP to exchange data. This means they send data to the ISP, which then sends it to the other company.
The global ISP helps by directing the data to the right place, allowing the companies to communicate smoothly.
However, if the companies are close to each other, like in the same country or state, they can connect directly. They do this by using a meet-me-room in a data center, which lets them exchange data without going through a global ISP.
What Advantages Can Meet-Me Rooms Offer?
Every colocation data center has a meet-me room. Most data centers are carrier-neutral, meaning they offer various ISPs for renters to choose from. More carriers mean more flexibility and reliability, which attracts more customers.
The main benefits of meet-me rooms are:
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1.Lower Latency:
High-bandwidth, direct connections reduce the number of network hops, which lowers latency.
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2.Cost Efficiency:
Direct connections help carriers avoid local loop charges, and having many carriers in one place can lead to better pricing for customers.
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3.Rapid Scalability:
Meet-me rooms provide more fiber connection options for renters. In carrier-neutral data centers, more carriers can be added, expanding the services offered.
Meet Me Room Design
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Renters and Users:
Meet-Me Rooms are used by ISPs, local exchange companies, cable companies, and e-commerce companies. They help distribute traffic at a low cost, benefiting large users like hospitals and universities.
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Ownership:
These rooms can be part of a privately owned or long-term leased (15-30 years) carrier-neutral data center. Alternatively, they can be in a larger carrier hotel on a shorter lease (5 years). Meet-Me Rooms are managed by building management and are not standalone facilities.
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Size:
Initially, Meet-Me Rooms were small, as they only needed space for fiber connections from tenant suites to patch panels. Over time, they have grown and now resemble small data centers, sometimes including cages.
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Customers:
Clients include operators of large networks, major content providers, enterprise customers, and smaller network operators.
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Service Offerings:
Meet-Me Rooms provide basic services like remote hands, power, cooling, and cross-connects. Larger data centers offer additional services like managed servers and hosting. While larger data centers aim to sell 5-10 racks per client, Meet-Me Rooms often sell smaller spaces like half or quarter racks.
Carrier’s Entrance
The best practice for carrier entrance into a data center is through a fiber cable that runs from the street into a cross-connect room. This setup allows for carriers to enter a meet-me-room (MMR) efficiently.
To connect carriers to your MMR, you can utilize meet-me vaults, also known as meet-me boxes. These ensure that your data center can bring in as many providers as possible, optimizing connectivity.
Meet-me Vaults
A meet-me vault is a concrete enclosure through which a carrier’s fiber optic cable is routed into a data center. Larger data centers and carrier hotels may require multiple vaults to maintain redundancy.
These vaults are located at the outer perimeter of the data center, typically buried a few feet underground.
The more meet-me vaults a data center has, the easier it becomes to offer competitive colocation prices. Multiple entry points allow fiber cables to directly access the cross-connect room via reinforced trenches. This setup ensures each provider has a dedicated duct for high-bandwidth connections.
The Cross-Connect Room
As the name suggests, the cross-connect room (CCR) is where carriers and customers are physically connected.
Fiber optic cables from the CCR may extend to the carrier’s infrastructure in the MMR or elsewhere in the facility.
A cross-connect room may also serve as a carrier’s fiber entry point, with the necessary hardware already available in the meet-me-room.
These rooms are protected areas with strict access control.
Benefits of a Meet-me Room in a Data Center
The benefits of having a meet-me-room in a data center can be summarized as the "3Cs" of control:
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Control:
MMRs enable data centers to ensure customer security and business continuity. This is achieved through protection from unauthorized access, as well as generator and battery backup systems.
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Choice:
Effective management of an MMR focuses on offering the right options to prospects. For colocation providers, this involves balancing carriers, ensuring adequate space for cross-connect equipment, and providing proper communication infrastructure.
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Cost:
An MMR reduces traffic distribution costs, allowing customers to bypass local loop fees. It also enables high-bandwidth connectivity within the room.
Additionally, meet-me-rooms can drive a data center’s growth by offering more connection options for customers.
ColoBird Meet-me-Room – Helping You Make Connections
At ColoBird, we understand that true interconnection means giving customers the freedom to choose who they want to connect with.
Once your team identifies a network to connect to, our meet-me-room facilitates a fast, seamless physical connection.
ColoBird’s meet-me-rooms are designed to support multiple providers, allowing them to bring in high-bandwidth connections through separate ducts, avoiding shared infrastructure.
This ensures tenants and carriers can experience uninterrupted internet exchange and smooth data transitions.
By connecting through ColoBird, your company can route digital traffic while avoiding "local loop" charges. Think of our MMR as a shortcut for providers to deliver traffic exchange to customers at a lower cost.
Our meet-me-rooms in the Miami Metro Area, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta, and Chicago data centers are connected to all major carriers and service providers in the region. This allows us to implement and manage multi-state, high-capacity networks.
Moreover, our MMRs are monitored 24/7 with security cameras to track all activities.
Only authorized personnel with multi-factor authentication are allowed access to the meet-me-room.
Our MMRs are also secured with fire-proof walls and biometric scanning to ensure maximum security.
Furthermore, they are staffed around the clock to minimize the chances of downtime or physical connection damage between providers.
Getting Started is Easy
Would you like to learn more about how ColoBird’s meet-me-rooms can improve data and internet exchange for your organization?
Getting in touch with us is simple. One of our experts will ask a few questions to understand your specific needs and help map out the best interconnection strategy for your organization.
Call us at +1 234 901-8976 or chat with one of our MMR experts to discuss your situation further.
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