- The Interconnection Facility at Park Place or “Park Place” for short, is a carrier neutral hotel (see below) located in downtown Eugene, Oregon. The facility is an expansion on what was previously known as the Milo Mecham Willamette Internet Exchange or “the WIX.” The facility is owned and operated by the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) which is a regional public agency. Personnel responsible for the facility can be reached here.
- The facility is designed and intended to act as a “carrier hotel.” A carrier hotel, also called a colocation center, switching center or interconnection facility, is a secure physical site or building where data communications converge and are interconnected. It is not a “data center” and is not designed to house servers or accommodate computing. The facility is neutral in that it is publicly owned (by LCOG) who have no part in providing Internet service to the end-user. This promotes competition by welcoming multiple providers.
- The facility is comprised of two highly connected rooms, one 800 sq. ft. room with 20 telecommunications cabinets in it and another newer 1,300 sq. ft. room with 26 cabinets in it. Further technical details of the facility can be obtained here.
- The facility connects urban and rural areas across southwestern Oregon to concentrated network activity in Eugene and the global internet beyond. As of mid-2020, the facility has 15 private entities and 13 public entities interconnecting. That number is growing. This includes large and small internet service providers (ISPs) – connecting to customers, transit (backhaul) providers (connecting between larger scale geographies) and public agencies supporting local and regional internal operations. Click here to see a list of those interconnecting in the facility.