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Over the course of my career I have become fairly plugged in to the Portland Colocation and Telecommunications industry.  I frequently am asked by friends and peers what options they have for Internet access, Telephone service, and Colocation facilities in Portland.  I have created this page to in-part answer that question by outlining all of the options I am aware of in this market.  If you know of something I am missing please email me.

I have also created a Google Map of all the facilities on this list.

If you are looking for service and would like an introduction at any of these companies feel free to shoot me an email and I can get you in touch with the right people.

I also recommend checking out a post I wrote on how to select a colocation facility as well as a post on the reasons you should consider moving into a colocation facility.

There are a number of providers (especially in the Pittock building) that will “colo” your server, but they are not facilities based providers so I am not going to list them here (they just rent space from someone else).

Portland Colocation Providers

• The Pittock Block– The Pittock Block (aka Portland NAP, Portland Internet Exchange, etc…) has been involved in the Oregon Telecommunications space since the North Pacific Cable (NPC) was terminated there by PT Cable in 1992.  This building is the most well-connected building in the state of Oregon.  The building was built in 1918 as the Portland steam/power plant, and while there are some downsides to a building that old, the connectivity is impressive.  The Pittock operates as a completely carrier-neutral facility and in fact, they don’t even provide Internet access themselves.  You must contract seperately with one of the numerous in-building providers (SilverStar Telecom is somewhat of the “defacto” blended Internet option similar to what you would find at other datacenters as their house blend).
• Infinity Internet– Their datacenter is in downtown, though they have a building near the airport that they have been talking about building out for some time now as the downtown location is starting to fill up.  They run a very clean datacenter and have been in the Portland market for a number of years.  Their downtown datacenter was built out during the telecom boom to very high standards.  They provide Internet service at the datacenter, as well as through some wireless equipment on the roof.
• ViaWest– Formerly Fortix, this facility is along highway 26 in Hillsboro.  They provide colocation services with 24×7 on-site staffing.  Being based in the suburbs has it’s advantages.  It is a single story facility on a concrete slab which makes many things in a datacenter easier than in a high rise building downtown (like cooling for instance).  I was happy with their service for the several years I worked at Kryptiq Corporation.  They continue to expand as their business grows and they have just launched a new facility right next door to their existing building.  ViaWest has done a good job of getting many carriers to build in, however, they are not a carrier hotel like the Pittock Building.
• Easystreet– Located along the 217 corridor, they are one of the oldest ISP’s/colo facilities in town.  It was started by some ex-Intel folks and has made quite the space for itself providing a range of services to local businesses.  They have expanded their colo space several times over the years.  Their service offering goes beyond just selling space power and cooling.  Their most recent expansion has a focus on energy efficiency.
• Sungard– Formerly Inflow, they have a very nice facility down in the Pearl district.  Their target is providing managed services rather than just plain colocation.  For this reason, they charge a lot for their colo space to encourage the use of managed services (this info may be out of date as I have heard they have a renewed focus on colo).  Their facility is staffed 24×7 and they have many other facilities worldwide.  Their target market is larger companies that wish to outsource significant portions of their IT systems.
• LightPoint– This facility was originally built out by WCI Cable (now ACS Alaska), and as such the standards used were very high (which you might expect from an undersea cable operator).  On a recent tour I was impressed with the quality to which the facility has been maintained.  Their location has access to a lot of fiber from all the major local players as well as some long haul carriers (they also have their own dark fiber over to the USBancorp tower, the Pittock Building, and the Bank of California building).  They have just recently built out a new footprint within their same building as their expansion continues and also brought in Verizon Business fiber.
• Opus Interactive – Located out in the NW industrial district Opus runs a very clean datacenter with the creature comforts you might expect (equipment build room, guest wireless network, etc..).  They are SAS 70 certified and can provide managed services, along with just direct colocation.  Last I heard they were building a new facility down the street from their existing one, however, I am not sure what the status of this project is at this time.
• SpireTech (I have never toured this facility – niche player)
• Sterling Communications (I have never toured this facility- niche player)
• The Bank of California Building– A very old player in the Portland Telecom space – this building has roots with the old MCI long haul network (now Verizon Business).  I am not sure how much this facility is being actively marketed for telecom purposes.
• TWTelecom– They offer colo space in their downtown central office building, as well as their Beaverton and Vancouver hub sites.  Their local team is excellent and their metro fiber rings are great for connecting back to your office, though I am generally not a fan of having my gear in a given providers space as I want complete flexibility to get services from any provider.
• Integra Telecom– They have at least three to four colo spaces I know of, their main one is out by the Airport, one is in their Beaverton CO right next to the Verizon Beaverton CO, one is a leased room from TATA communications in the facility above the Brewery Blocks in the Pearl, and they also may be willing to sub-lease some space in their old downtown ELI hub on sixth street.  The Beaverton facility is in a wood structure strip mall between a hardware store and an Asian market.  While it is FM-200 protected, I have questions about the viability of the rest of the structure from a fire protection standpoint.  The airport facility was nothing to write home about last time I visited  it.  The downtown facility may only have DC power available, but the  room above Whole Foods in the brewery blocks is an *amazing* facility however.  At one time they were sub-leasing cabinets for colo in this facility, however, at this time I believe their relationship with TATA is a bit rockey and so they are no longer actively marketing this facility – they may now be sub-leasing space in the Pittock Building.
• XO Communications– They have a big central office facility out on Nimbus Ave. in Beaverton that has colo space available.  The building is FM-200 protected and has a few AC UPS systems (though only one generator).  It is a very nice facility that is well maintained (though it is a carrier facility and as such you are not likely to get access to other carriers there).
• TATA Communications– Their facility above Whole Foods in the Brewery Blocks is the nicest in Oregon as far as I am aware.  It is built to telecom-boom undersea cable standards which means everything is built out without expense spared.  They have a few large rooms in this facility they they can and do rent out for colocation, though historically they have not priced things competitively enough for the Portland market.  Colocation in Portland is not the core focus of their business.  If you need a large amount of space and could come to terms on price, they would be an excellent option.  This facility is more carrier-focused so while there is a lot of fiber into the building, it might be more difficult to get access to small circuits than in a building such as the Pittock.  Tata does not have any of their own routers in Portland currently with which to provide IP services off of.

Portland Telecom Providers

• TWTelecom– these guys are a full service CLEC with their own fiber plant running all around the metro area providing service to businesses – products include Metro Ethernet, DIA (dedicated internet access), Telephone T-1’s & PRI’s, and nationwide MPLS (IPVPN).  They have an excellent redundant IP core in Portland with connectivity North, South, and East from Portland (which is not the case with most providers).  Their primary strategy is to build their own fiber optic network into key buildings in the markets they serve and provide services on top of that fiber.  They focus more on “on-net” services such as this than they do on “off-net” or “Type 2” service.
• Integra Telecom– another full service CLEC that historically has primarily focused on DS-1 (T-1) and below services, though with their acquisition of Electrice Lightwave (ELI) they have an extremely extensive metro fiber network as well (actually, technically ELI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Integra since Integra is not a facilities based carrier where as ELI is).  Integra is a regional player with services in a number of states (they started in Portland), though not a full nationwide player like TWTelecom.  They also purchased Eschelon Telecom and United Communications (UNICOM).  They are getting into the metro ethernet over copper business which is a good fit for many of their small business customers.  I recently have heard that they are offering MPLS over DSL which could be a very cool product for businesses with many small sites.
• XO Communications– A large nationwide carrier with a full suite of product offerings.  They provide everything from Internet over T-1’s, Internet over metro Ethernet (fiber), Internet over metro Ethernet over Copper (Hatteras), to MPLS to PRI’s to long distance, etc… (and much more)  They do have a metro Ethernet ring in Portland from downtown out to their Beaverton facility, although they do not focus as much on building into office buildings as TWTelecom does.  They do have more of a focus on building into local exchange carrier Central Offices and then providing T-1 based services (including bonded T-1’s delivered on Ethernet ports).
• SilverStar Telecom– A local CLEC that has equipment within many Portland Qwest CO’s to provide Metro Ethernet over Copper (using the Hatteras boxes).  Their IP core is in the Pittock building and I think it is safe to say they have some of the best (if not *the* best) IP connectivity in Portland through upstreams such as Verizon Business, ATT, Sprint, and Level 3.  They also peer with NWAX locally (which means Google is just a router hop away) as well as the Seattle Internet Exchange in Washington.
• PAETEC– They recently purchased the McLeod assets and have launched service in the Portland market.  I know they have a voice switch down in the Perl District and also a POP in the Pittock.  They are actively selling into this market.  While just getting started in Portland, they are an up-and-coming nationwide provider.  As part of the McLeod assets they acquired a metro ethernet ring around portland that cuts through downtown and then goes out to the West side over Burnside/Barnes, past the Beaverton CO, past the XO CO, and coming back towards Portland somewhere near Washington Square.  They do not have any IP routers here in PDX so many services are back-hauled up to Seattle.
• Verizon (Will be Frontier Communications July 1st) – These guys are the LEC on the West side and far East side of Portland – I don’t have much to say about the LEC’s as I usually don’t interact with them much in the business space (other than to provide me local loops for CLEC’s).  Verizon is my provider at home with their FiOS Internet/TV/Phone service which is absolutely amazing!  I have an OC-3/OC-12 hanging off the side of my house (I only pay for 25 megabit though).  Recently they have started making FiOS available to business users as well at some amazing price points (though this service should probably not be compared directly to the type of service TWTelecom or Integra would provide SLA wise).  The Portland market is currently in the process of being sold off to Frontier Communications.
• Qwest (Soon to be CenturyLink) – these guys are the LEC in downtown and the majority of the metro area, they also own what used to be the “OnFiber” assets which were originally Portland General Broadband (PGB).  The OnFiber ring goes out through Verizon territory on the West side, though I am unsure if they would be willing to sell service off them at this point.  They do have an excellent DSL offering for small businesses that can be configured with static IP’s, etc…  They are in the process of upgrading all of their DSLAM racks to support ADSL2+ and/or to VDSL to support much higher speed.  These new DSLAM’s are fiber fed rather than NxT-1 over ATM.  My understanding is that their MPLS offering is also quite good though I have not used it myself.
• Sprint– They only have one small facility in Portland (on St. Helens Road near hwy 30) that is a termination point on their long-haul network to pick up local access loops provided by others.  They don’t have an IP core in Portland, so if you want DIA or MPLS service you will be terminated off routers in Seattle.  This is not optimal from a latency or reliability standpoint.
• Verizon Business– Formerly MCI, they have a huge POP out in Hillsboro that is not really focused on the Portland market (I don’t know much about this facility).  They also own the old Worldcom assets as well as the MCIMetro assets so they have a ton of fiber around town that I suspect sits mostly unused.  They do provide services to some key large customers off their metro fiber assets, but they don’t seem interested in the smaller customers.  I believe the Hillsboro POP is where the new TPE (Trans Pacific Express) cable terminates.
• ATT – They have a huge building in downtown with a huge microwave tower on top (which is no longer in use).  They do have significant metro fiber (the ATT LNS assets which was formerly Teleport Communications Group – TCG Oregon) but I have no clue who you would talk to for ordering service.  Most of their fiber in downtown was done as a joint build with TCI Cable (now Comcast) since TCI was a major investor in TCG.  They also have some small facility in another downtown building (Pacific Center).  I am also aware of an ATT building in Beaverton near the Beaverton CO that I am not sure of it’s purpose.
• Comcast– They have a significant fiber network all across the metro area that has been built out to support their cable nodes.  Their primary service offering is their HFC (Hybrid Fiber / Coax) network (i.e. cable modems) but they can also offer metro ethernet services across their fiber network if you talk to the right folks.  As part of their agreements for franchise licenses they provide network services to some school districts and public entities.  Comcast is starting to make a larger push into selling to businesses with services such as PRI’s (available now) as well as cable modems at up to 100 megabit.
• LSNetworks– They grew out of the Oregon part of NoaNet and have fiber rings that run through rural Oregon that are owned by their member Power Utility Districts.  If you need access in remote places across Oregon they may be an excellent fit.  Their offices are in the Pittock Building.  They provide much of the back-haul for many rural Oregon ISP’s.
• Cogent Communications– They only have a single core router in the Pittock building, though I believe they may have recently added one in the Bank of California as well.  The only service they provide is DIA (Dedicated Internet Access), and possibly now Layer 2 VPN services since they upgraded their router in Pittock to a new 7600.  While they only have routes out of Portland up to Seattle and down to Sacramento, they do have one of the largest IP networks in the world and their prices are nearly an order of magnitude or so lower than much of the competition (according to their network map they are adding one through Boise as well).  I have found their support to be excellent (if you are a network professional and speak the lingo), but their Portland network has had issues more often than my other ISP’s (previous to the most recent router upgrade which now includes 10 gigabit links out of town).  With their new configuration it would appear that the Portland and Seattle markets only have connectivity on a single long haul route to Sacramento which means they take multiple hour outages sometimes for maintenance activities.  They claim to be working on fixing this some day.
• Hurricane Electric – Hurricane Electric is an up-and-coming global IP transit provider with a vastly different business model than everyone else.  They just lit up their IP pop here in Portland about a month ago in the Pittock building (based on a single Brocade switch/router).  What makes them different is their pricing model and philosophy.  These guys are really trying to push the Internet forward on many fronts.  They are the largest IPv6 provider in the world (based on number of prefixes, and probably amount of traffic) and they deliver every single circuit with IPv6 turned on.  They are a price leader with some very agressive offerings.  The most game-changing thing however, is their aggressive willingness to peer.  They connect to as many Internet Exchanges as they can globally and they actively seek peering arrangements with *everyone* (rather than the traditional telco model of only being willing to peer with similar size or larger networks).  The net result of this is better routes to destinations for their clients as many more networks are directly peered with them.
• Level3– Level3 has significant assets running through the Portland Metro area, both metro and long haul.  Over the years they have purchased WilTel (Williams) which had previously purchased FTV Communications.  Level3 has also recently purchased Broadwing which includes equipment in the Pittock.  I know they have a big facility in the Pearl and they recently built a brand new fiber ring out in Hillsboro (probably to connect to the new China-US undersea cable).  Traditionally they have been more focused on large customers, though more recently I have gotten indications that they are interested in selling smaller circuits as well off the assets they have in Portland.  They do not have a routing core in Portland, though they just recently designated the Pittock building as an IP POP (with Ethernet circuits hauled up to Seattle) which means their pricing model is extremely competitive (think close to Cogent).
• RIOnetworks– (formerly Rio Communications) – These guys are based out of Roseburg, though they have service in Bend, Eugene, Grants Pass, Medford, Roseburg, and Downtown Portland.  They have gotten into the metro ethernet over copper space, but they also offer traditional T-1 type services.
• Freewire Broadband– Freewire is both an ISP (using their own WiMAX wireless gear) and also a reseller/installer of point-to-point wireless radios.  If you need high speed connectivity between locations that have line-of-sight to each other, it is worth looking at a BridgeWave, Dragonwave, etc… radio link from Freewire.
• New Edge Networks – New Edge does not specifically focus on the Portland market, however, they are based in Vancouver and as such deserve mention here.  Their claim to fame is being able to get DSL lines just about anywhere all tied back to an ATM/Frame/MPLS network.  They are popular with kiosks and such like you might find at the corner convenience store.
• CenturyTel – While not a player in the Portland market, they do have offices in Vancouver and are focused on rural areas (including parts of Oregon and Washington).  – Note: They are in the process of acquiring Qwest so much more to come here!  They are now called CenturyLink.
• 360 Networks – They are a wholesaler that targets selling services to other carriers.  They have their own long-haul network with which to accomplish this and they have a ton of fiber capacity up and down the west coast.  If you need very high speed connectivity (gigabit +) from Pittock to Seattle (say for DR purposes) they may be a great fit.
• Abovenet – They have an excellent quality metro Ethernet ring through Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro that has for many years sat mostly dormant as this market was never fully activated before the telecom crash.  They are just now beginning to actively sell into the Portland market space and they just lit up a brand new redundant routing core in Pittock.  Their model involves using dedicated fiber to each premises they serve from their core in the Pittock which is compelling as an equipment or power failure elsewhere in town can not impact your circuits as it can on traditional rings like TWTelecom utilizes (though by default their circuits are built in an “unprotected” manor unless specified otherwise at a higher cost).  Their claim to fame is high bandwidth 100 meg, gig, and above circuits.
• Zayo Group – They have an extensive fiber network up in the Spokane Washington area and they lease fiber to connect down to Portland and West to Seattle.  They purchased the former NTI assets.  Among other things, they can provide connectivity up to the TierPoint datacenter in Spokane.
• X5 Solutions – A telecom provider that from what I can tell, mostly provides Voice services (SIP, VoIP, etc…).  My understanding is that they have a softswitch up in Seattle that can also provide services to the Portland market.  I believe they provide voice services to the entire State of Washington (i.e. the public entities).
• Hunter Fiber – A Southern Oregon based CLEC with an extensive fiber network in that region.  It is folks like this that make possible extremely high bandwidth communications in rural areas for reasonable prices.

Bandwidth Wholesalers

• Giglinx – They are the only wholesale organization I am aware of that has a local rep in Portland.  They can sell connectivity and colocation services from Level 3, XO, Time Warner, AT&T, Global Crossing, Savvis, Internap, and more.  Brandon Bunce is the local sales rep and can be reached at 503-954-2423 or brandon@giglinx.com.

Other Interesting Network Entities

• NWAX– The Northwest Access Exchange does not provide classic Internet service, however, they are a peering point to facilitate traffic between networks staying local to Portland/Oregon.  Their Juniper MX-480 switch core is based in the Pittock building.  I am a huge fan of promoting peering in Portland as it reduces latency, reduces costs for everyone, increases fault tolerence, and makes Portland/Oregon more of a network hub.  Their members include all of the higher education institutions in Oregon, Google, Hurricane Electric, most all of the local datacenters, many K-12 education districts, SilverStar Telecom, LS Networks, Integra Telecom, Portland Internetworks, and many more!
• PREN – The Portland Research and Education Network is not a provider you can connect to or purchase service from, but they are the Portland Higher-Education institutions connector to Internet2 in Seattle.
• NERO– The Network for Education and Research in Oregon provides Internet connectivity to the Oregon University System as well as I believe some K-12 institutions (though OPEN’s web site is now inactive so I am not sure who they now use for upstream Internet).
• PCN– The Public Communications Network was formed years ago by MACC and cable operators (aka Comcast) to provide connectivity for public agencies, schools and libraries.  I know that they carry traffic for some non-profits as well that are not necessarily government connected.  If you can qualify for this service the speeds are extremely fast (across their fiber network) and the costs are extremely low.  My understanding is that they only provide connectivity between points and not actual Internet or telephone service.
• NoaNet – An organization that has linked together the fiber networks of a several Public Utility Districts in order to provide end-to-end connectivity for large amounts of the Pacific Northwest.  They used to have service in Oregon and Washington, but it looks like the Oregon arm has become LS Networks.
• ACS– Alaska Communication Systems just recently acquired WCI Cable which has a landing point in Nedonna Beach, Oregon (with a beautiful POP in Hillsboro) providing connectivity up to Alaska.  They recently brought online a second cable up to Homer, Alaska known as AKORN.
• TATA Communications– Formerly VSNL, purchased the TyCom undersea cable assets from Tyco which included three undersea cables that land at the ACS (formerly WCI) cable landing point in Nedonna Beach, and three cables than land in Bandon Oregon.  TATA has a large facility in Hillsboro as well as some space in the brewery blocks above Whole Foods.  If you need good connectivity to Japan or elsewhere across the pond they may be a good option.  I believe they have a cable landing point further south on the Oregon coast as well that connects to China and South Korea.  I suspect they mostly only sell large circuits to carriers, etc…  Their downtown facility above Whole Foods in the Pearl District and it is probably the best overall quality datacenter facility in Oregon since it is in a brand new building and was built to undersea cable standards.  Granted it is not really setup for colo, however, Integra has rented a room there which they were at one time sub-leasing cabinets out of.
• Southern Cross Cables– The Southern Cross Cable loop connects Hillsboro to Hawaii, Austrailia, New Zealand and Fiji.  This cable is landed at the ACS (formerly WCI) cable landing in Nedonna Beach and is co-located at the Hillsboro facility as well.
• Alaska United– Another undersea cable provider with connectivity up to several cities in Alaska.  Their cable landing point is in Warrenton Oregon.  They compete directly with ACS Alaska (what used to be WCI Cable)
• ORTCC – The Oregon Telecommunications Coordinating Council’s mission is to provide all Oregonians with affordable access to broadband digital applications.
• OregonHealthNet – A government funded organization with a directive to build a “telehealth” network within Oregon.
• Routeviews.org – A very cool project run out of the University of Oregon that allows anyone to login and see what path to a given network numerous other network providers are seeing.  This is a great tool for troubleshooting BGP connectivity.
• Oregon Gigapop – The Oregon Gigapop provides the high-speed networking infrastructure that the State of Oregon needs for education research and development. It is administered by the Advanced Network Technology Center at the University of Oregon. (Note – It appears that the Oregon Gigapop web site may have been domain hijacked?)
• Oregon Internet Exchange – A peering point similar to NWAX located down in Eugene on the U of O campus.
• IRNE – A group of public entities that have collaborated to build their own fiber optic network in and around Portland
• Oregon Rural Fiber Network – A group of government entities that got together to promote fiber optic access within their boundaries.  It looks like this was primarily focused on getting IRU access to fibers within routes laid by long haul carriers such as Williams Communications and 360 Networks.
• Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission – The Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission negotiates and enforces cable service franchise agreements; manages the public benefit resources and assets derived from the franchises; and advocates on behalf of the public interest on communications policy issues at local, state and federal levels.  The MHCRC serves the communities, residents and local governments of Fairview, Gresham, Portland, Troutdale and Wood Village and Multnomah County, Oregon (its member “Jurisdictions”).
• MACC – These guys are the cable regulatory organization for most of Washington county.  They oversee both Comcast and now Verizon FiOS (soon to be Frontier).

Other Resources

• ICPC – International Cable Protection Committee list of cables for the Eastern Pacific
• OFCC– The Oregon Fishermen’s Cable Committee web site describes several of the undersea cables that land in Oregon and are connected into Hillsboro/Portland.
• Oregon Connections – An annual conference dedicated to Oregon Telecommunications
• Forestel – An agent for various telecom companies that can take care of negotiating with communications on your behalf and dealing with all of the hassles therein.
• CMS Enterprises – A full-service telecom management company – they can take care of everything from inventory, analysis, contract management, project management, invoice auditing, and invoice processing.