Hurricane Electric has announced that it has established a new Point of Presence (PoP) at the Netrality Data Center located at 717 South Wells Street in Chicago, IL. This is Hurricane Electric’s fourth PoP in the city and 17th overall in the Midwest.

Located in the heart of Chicago’s financial district, 717 S. Wells is carrier neutral and one of the most connected buildings in the city. Additionally, the data center is a conduit to the local fiber backbone in Chicago as well as a primary access point for long-haul fiber in the region. The facility also boasts a cooling system capacity of 170 tons (N+1) backed-up by generators and is SSAE 16 SOC I certified.

According to a recent report, Chicago was named the #1 emerging tech hub in the United States.  The survey yielding these results was conducted by Modis, an Information Technology staffing services company.  Among other findings, the survey cited the rise of Chicago’s tech incubators, robust growth of local training programs, and redevelopment of the Fulton Market into Google’s Chicago headquarters as the catalyst for the city’s newfound status. 

Hurricane Electric’s new PoP at 717 S. Wells will provide customers of Netrality, and others in the Greater Chicago Metro area, with access to the company’s vast global network. Hurricane Electric has over 17,000 BGP sessions with over 6,000 different networks via more than 155 major exchange points and thousands of customer and private peering ports. Additionally, companies within the 717 S. Wells facility can now utilize Hurricane Electric’s extensive IPv4 and IPv6 network through 100GE (100 Gigabit Ethernet), 10GE (10 Gigabit Ethernet) and GigE (1 Gigabit Ethernet) ports and as a result, both new and existing customers will be able to experience increased throughput, reduced latency and improved reliability.

“Chicago’s technology sector continues to expand and Hurricane Electric is delighted to help satisfy the rising demand for affordable high-speed IP transit,” said Mike Leber, President of Hurricane Electric. “With the opening of our fourth Point of Presence in Chicago, Hurricane Electric is well-positioned to remain ahead of the incredible growth in IPv6 traffic both in the Midwest and United States as a whole. We plan to continue building our presence throughout the region in order to help support businesses as they increase their capacity and drive growth in the heart of the country.”