Cloud providers are the target market for a new wholesale data center offering from FairPoint Communications announced yesterday.
The company also will be offering those services through resellers, including other network and data center operators nationwide that may need data center capabilities in FairPoint’s serving area, said Chris Alberding, Fairpoint vice president of product management, in an interview.
FairPoint Wholesale Data Center Services
Some cloud providers are looking to establish satellite data centers to move compute and storage resources closer to end users and offload primary and secondary data centers, FairPoint notes. The satellite data centers also can figure into a cloud providers’ disaster recovery strategy.
As their customer base grows, cloud providers often look to “extend the cloud closer” to customers in order to “improve performance and latency,” Alberding told Telecompetitor.
FairPoint’s wholesale data center services include space, power and “remote hands” – technicians who are available 24/7 on a professional services basis to handle tasks such as helping clients move in or cycling servers, Alberding explained. The company does not currently make storage and servers available but will consider that for the future, he said.
Communications service providers often tout their ability to provide connectivity as well as data center services, and FairPoint is no exception. Yesterday’s release highlights the company’s ability to provide connectivity to key long-distance carrier network-to-network interfaces via wavelength or high-speed Ethernet services.
FairPoint Strategy
Representing a small fraction of the U.S. population, FairPoint’s northern New England service territory receives relatively little investment from major national carriers, who tend to locate network points of presence and fiber routes in higher-traffic areas. FairPoint in recent years has tried hard to use that reality to its advantage by positioning itself as the place to go for network infrastructure for those who do not have their own in the area.
Providing mobile backhaul for other carriers on a wholesale basis, for example, has been an important growth area for FairPoint.
Data centers also have been an important growth area for FairPoint since the company opened its first 800-square foot facility in Laconia, N.H. less than a year ago. Earlier this year the company opened a larger data center in Manchester, N.H. and that is where the company expects to see the greatest demand for wholesale services.
The announcement about offering data center services on a wholesale basis was the next logical step for a service provider that also has a strong wholesale business. FairPoint also is looking to add more data centers in the future, Alberding said.
