MMR

What is an MMR (Meet-Me-Room) in a Data Center?

A meet-me-room is a secure room inside a data center that allows organizations to connect to one or multiple carriers. More specifically, an MMR enables internet service providers (ISPs), cable companies, cloud service providers, and other tenants to cross-connect.

A typical MMR features cabinets and racks with the tenant’s hardware for fast data transfer. Meet-me-rooms allow ISPs and organizations hosted in the same data center to connect, enabling them to exchange internet physically.

Data center interconnection uses multiple (at least two) data centers for the company’s information needs. These data centers must be connected to share their resources and exchange information. Most data centers are connected through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Other connection types are POP – Point of Presence and MMR – Meet-Me-Room.

Designing an MMR

A typical MMR should provide the following:

• At least 45U cabinets to accommodate network providers and carriers’ infrastructure

• High-performance cooling units to help regulate the temperatures

• Two power options — AC and DC. MMRs with one power option must be designed in a way that allows them to house more carrier infrastructure

Other elements to factor in when creating a meet-me-room include:

Carrier’s Entrance

The best practice is to allow carriers to enter a meet-me-room through a fiber cable coming into the cross-connect room from the street. You can leverage meet-me vaults, also known as meet-me boxes, to connect carriers to your MMR. The idea is to ensure the carrier’s entrance allows you to bring as many providers as possible to your data center.

Meet-me Vaults

A meet-me vault is a concrete box through which a carrier’s fiber optic cable enters a data center. Large data centers and carrier hotels may need several vaults to ensure optimal redundancy. Meet-me vaults are located at the outer edge of a data center, buried a few feet under the ground.

Ideally, you’ll want your meet-me vaults to be as close to your facility as possible to minimize connection costs. On top of that, you’ll want to have several strategically placed vaults to draw more providers. The more meet-me vaults a data center has, the easier it is to offer fair colocation prices for prospects. In addition, multiple entry points allow fiber cables to go straight into the cross-connect room via reinforced trenches. That way, each provider can have a dedicated duct, enabling them to lodge high bandwidth connections.

The Cross-Connect Room

As the name suggests, a cross-connect room (CCR) is where the connection between carriers and customers occurs. The fiber optic cable may run from the CCR to the carrier’s infrastructure in the MMR or another place in the facility. A cross-connect room can double up as a carrier’s fiber entry point, with the hardware already in the meet-me room.

Benefits of an MMR in a Data Center

The benefits of having a meet-me-room in a data center can be summed as the “3Cs” of control as follows.

Control: An MMR enables data centers to guarantee customer security and business continuity. Security is achieved through unauthorized access, generator, and battery backup protection.

Choice: Good management for a meet-me-room revolves around providing the right choices to prospects. For colocation providers, this may be a juggling act to strike the right carrier balance, each with adequate space for cross-connect equipment and communication.

Cost: An MMR minimizes traffic distribution costs by helping customers avoid local loop communications fees. Besides, MMRs enable high-bandwidth connectivity to users within the room.

One more thing — Meet-me-rooms can help spur a data center’s growth because of the facility’s ability to offer more connection options for customers.