A carrier hotel is a building where many telecom carriers, internet service providers and other networks house equipment so they can connect to each other. They are usually located where long-haul and metro fiber routes converge, often in a city’s downtown core, and many were originally office or telephone buildings converted for the purpose. Enterprises, content providers and cloud companies often lease space in them too, to reach many networks in one place.
At a glance
- A carrier hotel is defined by the density of networks inside it, not by its size or by who owns it.
- Networks connect to each other there through cross-connects, usually in one or more meet-me rooms.
- Many host internet exchange points (IXPs) and cloud on-ramps, making them regional connectivity hubs.
- Space and power can be limited and priced at a premium because of the location and connectivity.
What problem it solves
Networks need to hand traffic to each other, and the cheapest, fastest way to do that is to put equipment in the same room. If every carrier built its own facility and ran circuits to every other carrier, the cost and complexity would be enormous. A carrier hotel concentrates them in one building so a connection is a short cable rather than a new circuit across town.
For an enterprise, that density is the attraction. A business with equipment in a carrier hotel can usually choose from many carriers for interconnection, internet transit, private lines and cloud connections, and can add or change providers without new construction. That choice supports competitive pricing and diverse network paths.
How it works
Fiber entry. Carriers bring fiber into the building through one or more entrances, ideally from different streets, and run it through risers to their equipment or to a meet-me room.
Tenant space. Carriers and other tenants lease cabinets, cages or suites, and the building supplies power, backup power and cooling. Older buildings were not designed as data centers, so power density and cooling can be more constrained than in purpose-built facilities, depending on the upgrades made.
Meet-me rooms. Connections between tenants are made in shared rooms where each party’s cabling terminates on patch panels. The building operator, or sometimes a separate meet-me room operator, runs the cross-connects and charges for them.
Exchanges and on-ramps. Internet exchanges, cloud on-ramps and interconnection fabrics often operate inside carrier hotels, adding many more potential connections per port.
Ownership. Many carrier hotels are operated as neutral facilities open to networks on published terms. Others are owned by companies with their own networks or have historical ties to one carrier. Access terms to the riser and meet-me room shape how open the building really is.
For help placing equipment in a well-connected facility, see our Colocation solution page.
When it matters for buyers
- Building a network hub. A carrier hotel is a common place to anchor a WAN, internet edge or cloud connectivity hub.
- Seeking carrier diversity. Several carriers in one building make it easier to buy diverse paths, though true diversity also depends on separate building entrances and routes.
- Joining an internet exchange. If the exchange is in the building, connecting may be a cross-connect away.
- Reducing circuit costs. Moving network equipment into a carrier hotel can shorten or remove expensive local access circuits.
Questions to ask vendors
- Which carriers, internet exchanges and cloud on-ramps are present in the building today?
- How many fiber entrances does the building have, and are they physically separate?
- Who operates the meet-me rooms, and what do cross-connects cost to install and per month?
- How long does it take to provision a cross-connect?
- What power density per cabinet can you support, and how is power backed up?
- Are there any restrictions or extra fees for connecting to particular carriers?
- What space is available now, and can we reserve room to grow?
How it differs from a carrier-neutral data center
The two overlap but are not the same. A carrier hotel is defined by the concentration of networks in the building, which often makes it a regional fiber hub. A carrier-neutral data center is defined by customer choice: tenants can buy from multiple unaffiliated carriers in the building without discriminatory restrictions, even if the operator also sells some connectivity of its own. Many carrier hotels are carrier-neutral, and some carrier-neutral data centers are dense enough to be called carrier hotels, but a carrier-neutral facility in a suburb may host only a handful of networks.