Hurricane Electric partnered with Advanced Communications Technology to brings its premium Internet connectivity and global IPv4/IPv6 backbone into Cheyenne. From the article:
Advanced Communication Technology partners with Hurricane ElectricCheyenne data center will host area’s first Tier 1 network
Hurricane Electric, the world’s largest IPv6-native Internet backbone, announced today that a partnership with, Sheridan-based Advanced Communications Technology has led to the expansion of its global network.
Advanced Communications Technology (ACT) — a full-service communications solutions provider — will host Hurricane at its ACT Data Center in Cheyenne.
With this new Point of Presence, Hurricane Electric becomes the first Tier 1 network in the area.
“Hurricane Electric is excited to provide access to reliable high-speed IP transit for the first time to businesses in the region with the expansion of our global network to Wyoming,” said Aaron Sopko, general manager at ACT. “With the addition of Hurricane Electric, local and regional ISPs will no longer have to go outside of Wyoming to utilize Tier 1 connectivity.”
Fremont, California-based Hurricane Electric’s new PoP at the ACT Data Center is well-timed, Sopko said, as the greater Cheyenne area is home to a variety of start-ups, as well as established tech companies, both of which have been “anticipating the arrival of Tier 1 network connectivity for years.”
According to Wikipedia, Internet Protocol Version 6 (IOPv6) is the next generation of the Internet Protocol that is in various stages of deployment on the Internet. It was designed as a replacement for the current version, IPv4 that has been in use since 1982 and is in the final stages of exhausting its unallocated address space.
A tier 1 network is an IP network that participates in the Internet solely via settlement-free interconnection, also known as settlement-free peering. It is a network that can reach every other network on the Internet without purchasing IP transit or paying settlements. By this definition, a tier 1 network is a transit-free network that peers with every other tier 1 network.
“Hurricane Electric is excited to provide access to reliable high-speed IP transit for the first time to businesses in the region with the expansion of our global network to Wyoming,” said Mike Leber, president of Hurricane Electric. “Not only will this be extremely beneficial to customers of the ACT Data Center, but the availability of Tier 1 network connectivity at this location also strengthens Hurricane Electric’s presence throughout the Midwest.”
Thanks to this collaboration, local and regional ISPs as well as other networks will be able to leverage Hurricane Electric’s global IPv4 and IPv6 network through 100GE (100 Gigabit Ethernet), 10GE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) and GigE (1 Gigabit Ethernet) ports. In addition, companies within the ACT Data Center will have the opportunity to exchange IP traffic, or “peer,” with Hurricane Electric’s expansive global network while enjoying lower latency and fewer router hops.