The newest installment of JSA’s Data Movers podcast welcomed Todd Cushing, President of 1623 Farnam, a regional leader in network-neutral edge interconnection and data center services. The discussion, which spans up-and-coming social platform Clubhouse, hot fudge sundaes, data center expansions and more, gives new insight into recent and emerging industry shifts.
1623 Farnam is Taking Edge to a New Level
Despite an all-around challenging year, the telecom industry has largely held strong while serving as the backbone of critical digital communications. Comprehensive changes to day-to-day life have created a rise in data traffic and an enhanced focus on mission-critical infrastructure that must be supported on behalf of organizations everywhere. For 1623 Farnam, keeping pace with these new demands has meant planning for growth — in the form of a $40 million upgrade for its edge facility.
As Cushing states, “We were designated an essential facility right away. We are able to keep the facility up and running, [keep] customers happy, and expand the electrical and mechanical capabilities by eight fold from what it was before. The clients are watching us evolve. A lot of them are very happy to see an investment happening in a facility that’s been around for a while right in the middle of the U.S.”
The Significance of Peering
As home to the OmahaIX, 1623 Farnam is more than a data center — it’s also an important part of the regional and national interconnection landscape. While many may think of major hubs (such as Dallas or Los Angeles) as the traditional home to Internet Exchanges, the placement of this peering hub is central and strategic. Equidistant from the coasts and the hubs for most major content providers, this locale is a resource for users looking to move data with improved network performance and reduced transport costs. What’s next for OmahaIX? Tethering new satellite exchanges for an extended peering fabric and even greater value.
What to Look Forward To
This edge data center’s momentum is growing by the day, and still on the horizon for 1623 Farnam are some exciting initiatives (including involvement with an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) Challenge).
To learn more about technology innovations like 5G, AR and VR, or to listen to more of Cushing’s insights from the edge, you can watch the full video interview here, or listen to this interview in podcast form here.
