The NAP of the Northwest

Expanding technologies in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) continue to explode, with global data traffic growing more than 17% just last year, and Asia still driving the market. With Asia-Pacific accounting for 35% of the total IoT spending, U.S. access to Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets is critical for American companies, many of whom are flocking to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the U.S. for transpacific interconnectivity via next-generation subsea systems such as NCP, Hawaiki, and the Bifrost Cable System.

Washington and Oregon have long shared status as a hub for critical APAC interconnectivity via the region’s unrivaled ecosystem of subsea cables. Today, greater Portland has emerged as the focal point of this activity, with Hillsboro data centers playing a leading role in aggregating and distributing transpacific connectivity.

Leading the way among Portland data centers is the Flexential Portland - Hillsboro data center campus, the U.S. cable landing station for three of the newest and most robust subsea cables connecting Asia and the U.S:

1. The Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 data center houses the U.S. cable landing station for the New Cross Pacific (NCP) subsea cable, which provides the largest and fastest connectivity to mainland China. The NCP delivers up to 80 terabits per second (Tbps) of capacity to significantly reduce latency between the U.S. and the high-growth Asian markets of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
2. The Hawaiki submarine cable also terminates in the Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 data center, carrying up to 43 Tbps to deliver the first carrier-neutral, low-latency connection between the continental U.S. and Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and American Samoa.
3. The Bifrost Cable System extends Flexential reach deeper into Asia-Pacific by providing a direct, high-capacity path between Southeast Asia and the U.S. West Coast. Designed to carry up to 260 Tbps across more than 12,500 miles, Bifrost connects Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, and the United States, with a landing in Winema, Oregon, that is linked via terrestrial fiber into the Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 data center. The system also includes a branch in Guam for onward connectivity to markets such as Japan and Australia.

These three subsea cable systems are supported by a fiber ring in Hillsboro that connects to all Flexential data centers and carrier hotels. Flexential has terminated many of the fiber pairs in the local data centers to build a robust ecosystem of connectivity, matching connectivity hubs across the United States. And with the terrestrial fiber that leads into Seattle and down to San Jose, interconnectivity is growing exponentially.

Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 Data Center: The NAP of the Northwest

Reminiscent of the trajectory that led Miami to become the “NAP (Network Access Point) of the Americas,” i.e., the pathway for data traffic from the Caribbean and South and Central America to more than 148 countries, the robust transpacific pipeline that terminates in the Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 data center has cemented it as the “NAP of the Northwest.”

When the NCP and Hawaiki subsea cables went live in 2018, they became a major catalyst for internet infrastructure and economic development in Hillsboro, delivering low-latency, high-capacity connectivity to seven countries on the continents of Australia and Asia.

“Today, customers are building applications that serve users in Manila and Singapore the same way they do in Miami and Seattle, and they need enough bandwidth to move massive datasets and enough compute to process them,” says Ryan Mallory, CEO at Flexential. “Bifrost extends direct access to those markets through our infrastructure, which is built to support the workloads they're running now and the ones they're planning next."

As carriers, service providers, peering exchanges, and customers choose the PNW for trans-Pacific connectivity, the Flexential Portland - Hillsboro 2 data center is the “NAP of the Northwest,” and its importance continues to grow as additional subsea cables, such as Bifrost, select the campus as a termination point and gateway to flourishing APAC markets.

Explore the Flexential Portland – Hillsboro campus today!