What is a carrier in IT?
A carrier (also known as a network provider or Internet Service Provider, ISP) is a company that owns or operates the infrastructure for long-distance data transmission. In the IT landscape, carriers function as suppliers of bandwidth and connectivity. They operate fiber-optic networks and Points of Presence (PoPs) to connect end-customer locations and data centers to the global internet or other sites.
Why is carrier neutrality important?
The importance of carrier neutrality lies in the avoidance of dependencies, known as vendor lock-in. Without this neutrality, a company is tied to the prices, technology, and availability of a single provider. Carrier neutrality creates an open marketplace for telecommunications services within the data center, where customers can flexibly adjust contracts to react to market changes or technical failures.
The three main advantages of carrier neutrality
Cost efficiency through competition: Since multiple providers are on-site, they compete for the customer, leading to market-driven prices for bandwidth.
Increased reliability (redundancy): Customers can source lines from different carriers. If one provider fails due to a disruption, the infrastructure of the second commissioned provider automatically takes over.
Maximum flexibility: Companies can choose the specialized best-in-class provider for different locations or services (e.g., site networking, cloud connectivity, or IP services).
Comparison: Carrier-neutral vs. Carrier-specific
Carrier-neutral data center
- Choice of provider: Free selection from a variety of providers
- Prices: Lower due to direct market competition
- Redundancy: High (multi-carrier concept possible)
- Scalability: Very high through provider switching
Carrier-specific data center
- Choice of provider: Fixed to the operator/in-house provider
- Prices: Monopoly prices of the single provider
- Redundancy: Limited (single point of failure at the provider)
- Scalability: Limited by the portfolio of the single provider
Practical example
In practice, this means: A company hosts its e-commerce platform at firstcolo. To guarantee 100% availability, the company simultaneously uses lines from Telekom, Colt, and Versatel. If a cable from one provider is damaged during civil engineering work, the platform remains online via the other carrier without interruption.
firstcolo expert assessment
“True carrier neutrality is the foundation for modern hybrid cloud scenarios. Only through the presence of numerous carriers in the Meet-Me-Room (MMR) can we minimize latency by handing over data streams where the physical path to the destination is shortest.”
