Colo Atl Opens SNAP Exchange in Atlanta

55marietta

55 Marietta Street in Atlanta is home to ColoAtl, which is launching a new exchange point.

Colo Atl is creating a “NAP” in Atlanta with involvement of Georgia Tech and the National Science Foundation. Dubbed the Southeast Network Access Point (SNAP), the exchange point offers neutral internet exchange services for all of those desiring a neutral peering point in the southeast United States. It’s located in Colo Atl’s facility at 55 Marietta Street in Atlanta, a market that is becoming a more diverse market for colocation and interconnection services.

SNAP will initially offer 100 Mbps – 10Gbps access ports, and both IPv4 and IPv6 peering. Members joining SNAP during the first year will enjoy financial incentives and charter member status. SNAP will be available to all networks later this year.

"SNAP was established to provide a stable platform for global and IP network peering and cutting edge Internet Exchange services," said Tim Kiser, Owner and Founder of Colo Atl. "Our charter members have a mission to meet the demands and advance the vision and operational objectives of the global Internet community."

Route servers will allow networks to simplify their peering operations, while SNAP will permit other traditional peering models utilizing either user-managed peering or VLANs. It will also provide an exchange for Software Defined Networks (SDN), initially peering with regional research and education networks with plans to eventually get in the commercial networking space. Lending technical expertise to SDN peering are charter members Georgia Institute of Technology, US Ignite, and the National Science Foundation’s Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI)

The Atlanta Market

Atlanta is a major colocation market, with a wealth of providers and several Fortune 500 companies. It's attractive for a variety of reasons. Power costs are generally low and very competitive in the market, large IT workforce, major airport and excellent business climate in general.

In terms of providers, there’s Colo Atl, of course, but there are a couple of dozen data center providers in total. There is a big concentration downtown, as well as surrounding suburbs.

The biggest player in the market is Quality Technology Services (QTS), which has very large facilities in downtown as well as neighboring Suwanee. Two major facilities are 55 and 56 Marrietta, a carrier hotel owned and operated by Telx that houses Atlanta’s Internet Exchange Point (IXP) and is home to several other colo players.

Colo Atl was formerly named JT Communications, and operates the Meet Me Room at 55 Marrietta. Formerly the Fulton National Bank Building, 55 Marrieta is a 21-story, 399,000 square foot building, with about 180,000 square feet of space occupied by technology companies, including 16 carriers and several colocation and managed services providers. The building began a major redevelopment last year.

In 2010, colocation market leader Equinix bought into the Atlanta market with its acquisition of Switch & Data, which included a substantial facility within 180 Peachtree Street. Other major players in the market are AtlantaNAP (GNAX) on 1100 White Street, and Peak 10, which has been in expansion mode at its Atlanta facility.