Market Post Tower
"Gateway to Global Internet and Telecom Data Exchange".
Built in 1984, Market Post Tower is located at 55 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The building projects a striking image with its 15 stories of gold reflective glass, and can easily be seen on approach to San Jose. Designed by local architect David Takamoto, it is owned by CRG West, an operating partner of the Carlyle Group, who leases space in the 289,965 square foot building. The Carlyle Group bought the "Gold Building" from Quaestor, Inc. on February 3, 2000, for $71.75 million.
Market Post Tower is the main hub of Internet traffic for the Western United States, and one of the largest peering points in the world. It is home to around 25 of the largest ISPs and telecom providers in the country and the world, including Worldcom's MAE-West. Other tenants include Cogent, Covad Communications, Genuity, Global Crossing, GRIC, Hurricane Electric, Level 3 Communications, MCI Worldcom (MAE-West), MFN, MFS, On Fiber, PacBell, Peering by PAIX, Primus, Qwest Communications, Southern Cross, Telecom New Zealand, Time Warner, Telecom, UFO (AT&T Broadband), UUNet, Verizon (GTE),
and XO Communications.
Marketing grain of salt having been taken, they claim that 70% of Internet traffic from the Western United States and 40% of the world's Internet traffic passes through the building. The first claim is especially reasonable given the fact of how much of the Western United States' traffic passes through Silicon Valley, and that nearly every provider in the area is peered with one of the providers in Market Post Tower. MAE-West itself claims to carry 40% of the traffic in the United States. In fact, there is an astronomically high chance that your packets went through Market Post Tower when retrieving this node, since Everything2 is hosted in San Jose by AboveNet/Level 3, who rent space in the building. (Update: Ok, now that E2 is hosted in Michigan, your packets have as much chance of passing under a cow patty as through Market Post Tower, but the odds are still fairly high if you live in the Western United States.)
The building includes the usual high class telecom building amenities, including five elevators, 24/7 security with closed circuit video monitoring and electronic keycard access, private underground parking, fire protection systems, two backup generators with a day's worth of fuel, and a riser system for fiber, electric, and more. The building also features a cafeteria, post office, bank, convenience store, concierge service, and on-site engineers.
Market Post Tower also features two "Meet Me Rooms" (MMR), on the 2nd and 3rd floors. These carrier-neutral areas offer cabinets and cages that allow tenants throughout the building to connect to each other. If Market Post Tower is one big data party, the MMRs are the dedicated orgy rooms.
As of 2000, the rent was reported to be $4.30 USD per square foot. The largest tenant is not a telecom company however, but instead the Internal Revenue Service, who use half of the building for office space.[2]
Sources:
[1]: http://www.marketposttower.com/
[2]: http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2000/02/21/story5.html
|
