Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : The Infomart in Dallas

[KyleLC23]

Hello,

It seems that everyone is in the Infomart building, but I still am not clear who I can and can't get space from. Does one person own the entire building or is it spliced up into individual suites? Who has the best pricing on space and power inside this location? How much are cross connects? Who has the best transport pricing to get into this location?

[voipcarrier]

The Infomart is essentially an office building, although there are lots of data center tenants. If someone just says they are "in the Infomart", it's almost surely Equinix. Generally, "best prices" and "Equinix" aren't used in the same sentence. Telx, Viawest, Level3, and CoreXChange are larger tenants that come to mind quickly.

[JSCL]

Ubiquity are in the Infomart

[voipcarrier]

Originally Posted by JSCL

Ubiquity are in the Infomart

I believe they have cage/suite space with someone, not space direct from the Infomart. Cross connects might be difficult - I don't know their policy.

Currently the building MMR in the Infomart is very small and generally just telecom related. When people talk about the building MMR, they are usually actually referring to Equinix. Anywhere else and you'll probably end up paying an Equinix cross connect fee on top of the cross connect fee to you provider. Fine out specifically what providers you want, then make a decision based on that.

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by voipcarrier

I believe they have cage/suite space with someone, not space direct from the Infomart. Cross connects might be difficult - I don't know their policy.

Currently the building MMR in the Infomart is very small and generally just telecom related. When people talk about the building MMR, they are usually actually referring to Equinix. Anywhere else and you'll probably end up paying an Equinix cross connect fee on top of the cross connect fee to you provider. Fine out specifically what providers you want, then make a decision based on that.

Yeah they are just a colocation client, not an actual tennant of the infomart. Ditto to everything on the xconnects

[Winky]

Originally Posted by KyleLC23

Hello,

It seems that everyone is in the Infomart building, but I still am not clear who I can and can't get space from. Does one person own the entire building or is it spliced up into individual suites? Who has the best pricing on space and power inside this location? How much are cross connects? Who has the best transport pricing to get into this location?

You can get space in one of two ways. Direct from the building or through another tenant who leases out space. You can only get direct from the building if you are willing to lease an entire suite. If you are simply looking for a rack, cage or 1U, you would have to get it through a tenant.

[ColoUnlimited]

Bear in mind that just because you lease space from the Infomart, it does not mean you get UPS and generator protected power. These are huge costs that hosting providers in the Infomart have to provide. The vast majority of the Infomart is just office space without UPS, generator, or data center quality cooling.

[JSCL]

I *think* Ubiquity is in XO.

ColoGuys used to be in there, but they aren't now :/

[RyanD]

Originally Posted by JSCL

I *think* Ubiquity is in XO.

ColoGuys used to be in there, but they aren't now :/

Yeah, Cologuys/NorthTXConnect/etc are out in Global IP Networks in Plano now.

[JSCL]

Originally Posted by RyanD

Yeah, Cologuys/NorthTXConnect/etc are out in Global IP Networks in Plano now.

Yup, they've done quite a bit of moving around over the last 12 months but seems to be solid in Plano now.

Shame really.

[KyleLC23]

How do I find a list of all the tenants that are actually offering space inside of the infomart? I am sure I could do some searching, but I am afraid I will find many providers saying there are in the Infomart, but in the end they are really buying from someone else.

Does each tenant have their own generators, UPS, and cooling systems, or is this something the Infomart provides that is shared between all tenants?

Is power prices and the amount of power per rack the same between all tenants?

[ColoUnlimited]

The Infomart accidentally published a list of their tenants on their website at one point. Outside of this, I am not aware of any official tenant list for the Infomart. You could always do a quick tour around the Infomart to see who is there.

Each tenant is responsible for their own generators, UPS, and cooling system. Power availability is also different amongst tenants.

[Jasonsite]

One person told me that all power at the Infomart is on generators. I don't know that for a fact though. I can't really see how each tenant could have their own generators.

You can use http://www.datacentermap.com to find some colo providers in Infomart.

[voipcarrier]

I am intimately familiar with the Infomart. Contrary to popular belief, it's not one big datacenter - it's just an office building that happens to have lots of datacenter tenants. In fact, the largest tenant is Bank of America who has over 100,000 square feet and most of two floors.

UPS and generators are individually owned, the building does not supply these. They do have a chilled water plant (like any large office building), but some customers also have their own cooling infrastructure.

Power rates could vary widely between datacenters within the building. They're paying the same or similar cost to the utility provider, but they can add-on whatever they want for "UPS" and "cooling fees" that come out to the nice round per circuit or amp amount that you're used to.

Again - if someone generically says "I'm in the Infomart", it's probably Equinix or a reseller. The other large tenants are Switch and Data (which is now owned by Equinix), Level3, Viawest, and CoreXchange. If you have to get to Equinix, don't go with anyone else unless you carefully weigh to costs to get into Equinix from the suite you're in. It will add up quick.