Deregulation has never created as many jobs and opportunities as it did when the FCC deregulated the telecom industry. By allowing competition to exist, this legislation created a whole new industry called colocation or colo -- the location of telecom equipment owned by CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers), ASPs (application service providers), ISPs (Internet service providers), and other telecom-related businesses, in a carrier or third-party neutral facility.
These third-party facilities, or telco hotels, have grown considerably in the past year, and as more appear, they are experiencing staffing shortages. It's not unusual for a colo expert to have multiple offers and counter-offers.
Besides sales consultants (who are also demanding a higher base salary), these facilities need highly skilled facilities managers. Traditionally, such individuals would have to know about mechanical and electrical infrastructure; in a colo facility, they must also know how to handle telecommunications equipment and have a good grasp of Unix operating systems -- an unusual and hard-to-find mix of skills.
Colo companies also need a tremendous number of technical engineers, especially since they must be staffed at all times. Installation engineers -- who oversee the difficult task of establishing connections between the various carriers, providers, and other tenants -- are in demand too, as well as specialists in LAN/WAN infrastructure and Cisco-certified specialists to handle the equipment.
"When the '96 Act [the Telecommunications Act] passed, Congress explicitly provided for the ability of physical colocation, meaning that competitors could lease space in central offices and establish equipment there," explained Michael Olsen, vice president and deputy general counsel at DSL provider NorthPoint Communications. Huge telco hotels, strategically located in metropolitan areas near thick concentrations of fiber, have since become home to some of the world's largest telcos. These vast storehouses of telecom equipment -- where telecom meets the Internet -- represent a huge market. Often, a 100-square-foot block in one of these facilities costs more than $100,000 per year.
Colocation is the latest attempt by telcos, ISPs, and others to address the tremendous need for carrier-grade building infrastructure and interconnection services. AT&T, for example, plans to invest $250 million in the next few years to deploy a million square feet that ASPs can use to deliver services. Qwest Communications and IBM plan to build 28 new CyberCenters, each a minimum of 100,000 square feet, in the next few years. According to a Yankee Group report, "The U.S. Colocation Market: High-tech Real Estate Heats Up," "As deregulation continues to encourage the emergence and rapid growth of new players in the services industry, these companies expect to derive massive revenues from their investment."
telX (www.telx.com) offers a wide variety of support services, as well as colocation real estate. "We keep track of all the bandwidth within our facility -- every single circuit," said Hunter Newby, telX's executive vice president of strategic planning. Everything telX's customers want to do is a custom job, said Newby. That requires skilled people.
Colocation engineers, managers, and specialists routinely make more than $100,000 a year. London-based recruiter Redbrick Communications's specialty is finding people to fill these jobs. Tim Hodgson, Redbrick's manager of communications, said the staffing needs are "absolutely huge," and the need is growing, particularly for managed services. "The level and expense of all the equipment in there must be operated very skilled people," said Hodgson.
So where are the jobs? The biggest telco hotels in the US are located strategically in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. (Together, those three cities act as gateways to the world.) For details on specific jobs in the US and Europe, check with some of the major telco hotels and users of colo space, which include ISPs, ASPs, and other telecom companies. Bandwidth exchange provider Band-X provides an exceptionally rich recruitment center at http://www.band-x.com. For colo jobs in European locations like Zurich, Switzerland, and Frankfurt, Germany, check colocation provider DigiPlex (www.digiplex.com). For general information about the colocation industry, visit www.colocation-network.com and www.colocationsummit.com.
