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Flexential Network Access Point (NAP) of the Northwest

With the increased demands for network connectivity and bandwidth driven by emerging technologies and digital transformation, the Flexential NAP of the NW data center in Hillsboro, Oregon, is a critical piece in today’s network-driven ecosystems. 

07 / 7 / 2023
3 minute read
Flexential’s Network Access Point (NAP) of the Northwest

Flexential’s Network Access Point (NAP) of the Northwest

The Hillsboro2 data center is home to the most important network providers and international carriers that are the backbones of the internet. These providers are the unsung heros of our ability to deliver e-commerce transactions, measure billions of remote sensors, enable work from home employee and remote learning, not to mention our greater shift online entertainment and social experiences. Demands for sustainable and scalable connectivity have never been greater and the recent reporting of network growth exceeding 30-50% by research analysts at firms like IDC or Gartner because of the pandemic are testimony to the great work of these providers. It was the network providers that made it possible to still sustain a workforce and economy, albeit a weaker one, during this crisis.

It’s just as important to remember that it’s the network that connects computers and public clouds data centers. The network is tasked with the resiliency of 100% uptime of the critical services. Systems that power those networks, the public clouds, the online retail companies, social media and entertainment, manufacturing , and the big data to analyze and define the causes of the pandemic. Together the three entities; networks, compute, and data centers, form the eco system that keeps our society connected and working.

Flexential has one of the most critical data centers in the US in its NAP of the NW located in Hillsboro, Oregon. This data center brings all three components together, including international connectivity, under one roof. It hosts the 2 largest Asia-PAC subsea cables that carries the world’s traffic between North America and Asia-PAC. At 80 Tbs of capacity, the New Cross Pacific subsea cable (NCP) supports China Telecom, China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom, China Mobil and Korea Telecom and is the largest in the Pacific. The NAP of the NW also houses the Hawaiki Submarine Cable connecting North America to American Samoa, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii at another 60Tbs capacity. These two systems are complimented by the world’s largest carriers such as CenturyLink, AT&T, Comcast or Telia Sonera, while having fiber providers such as Zayo or Wave for a full array of network needs.

Flexential also has its own network fabric; FlexAnywhereTM that provides its customers a Software Defined Network (SDN) solution for interconnection to any of its 40 US data centers over its scalable 100GB backbone. This service provides customers, private and secure, DC to DC connectivity, Public and Private Cloud Connectivity, Premium Internet Bandwidth with automated DDOS (Dynamic denial of service) scrubbing, and access to other Flexential services.

The critical mass driving Hillsboro’s growth as the leader in APAC connectivity is reminiscent of the 2001 trajectory that led Miami to become known as the NAP, i.e. the pathway for data traffic from the Caribbean and South and Central America to more than 148 countries. This led to hundreds of network carriers following suit, and an ecosystem of South American connectivity ensued.

With an extensive list of network services and service providers, fiber, and subsea cables, hosted in a Tier3 uptime institute data center, Flexential NAP of the NW is a critical piece of the ecosystem that is connecting and powering the world in today’s crisis. Learn more about our data center network, or contact us to take a tour of any of our facilities.

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