Carrier Hotel Alliance Adds 1102 Grand

The Carrier Hotel Alliance (CHA) has expanded its membership to include 1102 GRAND, Kansas City's largest carrier-neutral interconnection facility, which will participate in CHA's joint marketing effort at the 2007 Global Telecommunications Meeting (GTM) May 21-24 in Washington, DC.

The CHA is a cooperative effort of North America's largest operators of carrier hotels (multi-tenant telecom buildings), including CRG West (One Wilshire and San Jose's Marketplace Tower), the Westin Building of Seattle and the telx Group network of meet-me rooms in a dozen major Internet gateways across the US, including 60 Hudson and 111 Eighth Avenue in New York.

The CHA offers prospective customers the opportunity to "build their entire North American network in one room" at major telecom industry conferences. "It's a win-win situation for GTM attendees," commented Michael Boyle, Director of Business Development for the Westin Building. "The combination of international network operators, equipment manufacturers, and facility owners in the CHA allows attendees to buy and build the necessary infrastructure for the next phase of telecommunications growth."

1102 Grand is a 26 story high-rise in Kansas City's financial district sitting on dual power grids in a major metropolitan fiber ring. The owners of the 155,000 square foot building recently invested more than $6.5 million in infrastructure upgrades to the facility.

"We are thrilled to join CRG West, tel(x), and The Westin Building in this important alliance," said Darren Bonawitz, Partner at 1102 GRAND. "Carrier hotels play a vital role in enabling exchange among next generation networks and services, and banding together with the common goal of enabling network- building increases the power of that position exponentially."