Sorry, a short rant about Digital Realty, Hivelocity and 350 E. Cermak
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork). We have some servers colocated at this data center. We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper. The only notice we got was an invoice. I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak. When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER. Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity? I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well. Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
I know that Hivelocity just canned their CEO, and have some industry “consultants” on the team now, so not surprised that some fire sales have occurred. -John
On Jan 29, 2026, at 12:26 PM, John Palmer via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
We have some servers colocated at this data center.
We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper.
The only notice we got was an invoice.
I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak.
When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER.
Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity?
I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well.
Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
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On 29.01.2026 18:26, John Palmer via NANOG wrote:
I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
I thought they had been in that business for a while. Although I only know the one they bought with InterXion in Zürich, Switzerland. But maybe you're making a distinction I'm not getting, with the "actually running" bit there.
1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it)
They have one, https://login.digitalrealty.com/Account/Login, but when you log in you get forwarded to the interxion.com domain. It's a messy portal and a bit broken. I have to reset my password for every single login and they do 2FA by email only. At least I'm getting the emails, so maybe I should count my blessings. Best of luck to you! -- Joel Busch, Network Engineer Switch, AS559
Please excuse my ignorance, but does this impact organizations who have a presence in 350 E Cermak via Equinix or other providers? My only experience with that building is as an Equinix customer. What I'm wondering is really: is this change in ownership of the whole building, or just a part of it the way that Equinix is just one part of it? -Bruce Wainer On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 1:07 PM John Von Essen via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
I know that Hivelocity just canned their CEO, and have some industry “consultants” on the team now, so not surprised that some fire sales have occurred.
-John
On Jan 29, 2026, at 12:26 PM, John Palmer via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
We have some servers colocated at this data center.
We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper.
The only notice we got was an invoice.
I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak.
When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER.
Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity?
I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well.
Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
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Digital Realty is one of the largest data center companies in the world and has been running data centers for decades. Integration always goes poorly. You may have a cause of action against Hivelocity and you may be able to get out of your contract - its a sellers market for datacenter these days. As far as credit cards - taking credit card payments for data center services is the relic of a bygone era. Most folks pay by invoice and purchase order in this era. DG On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 1:11 PM Joel Busch via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
On 29.01.2026 18:26, John Palmer via NANOG wrote:
I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
I thought they had been in that business for a while. Although I only know the one they bought with InterXion in Zürich, Switzerland. But maybe you're making a distinction I'm not getting, with the "actually running" bit there.
1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it)
They have one, https://login.digitalrealty.com/Account/Login, but when you log in you get forwarded to the interxion.com domain. It's a messy portal and a bit broken. I have to reset my password for every single login and they do 2FA by email only.
At least I'm getting the emails, so maybe I should count my blessings.
Best of luck to you!
-- Joel Busch, Network Engineer Switch, AS559 _______________________________________________ NANOG mailing list
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350 Cermak has been owned by Digital Realty for many years. They lease suites and floors to a variety of operators, and they directly operate some sections. I would not assume that this rather alarmist post has anything to do with the operation of DLR's other tenants. I'm sure your Equinix relationship is just fine DG On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 1:18 PM Bruce Wainer via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
Please excuse my ignorance, but does this impact organizations who have a presence in 350 E Cermak via Equinix or other providers? My only experience with that building is as an Equinix customer. What I'm wondering is really: is this change in ownership of the whole building, or just a part of it the way that Equinix is just one part of it? -Bruce Wainer
On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 1:07 PM John Von Essen via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
I know that Hivelocity just canned their CEO, and have some industry “consultants” on the team now, so not surprised that some fire sales have occurred.
-John
On Jan 29, 2026, at 12:26 PM, John Palmer via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
We have some servers colocated at this data center.
We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper.
The only notice we got was an invoice.
I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak.
When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER.
Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity?
I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well.
Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
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Digital Realty owns the 350 E Cermak building, and has for quite some time… Equinix is a tenant, occupying the entire 5th floor, and probably some other space. Steadfast Networks was a tenant, Steadfast sold their operations to Hivelocity… and it appears Hivelocity then sold off their 350 E Cermak colo operations to their landlord.
On Jan 29, 2026, at 12:17 PM, Bruce Wainer via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
Please excuse my ignorance, but does this impact organizations who have a presence in 350 E Cermak via Equinix or other providers? My only experience with that building is as an Equinix customer. What I'm wondering is really: is this change in ownership of the whole building, or just a part of it the way that Equinix is just one part of it? -Bruce Wainer
On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 1:07 PM John Von Essen via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
I know that Hivelocity just canned their CEO, and have some industry “consultants” on the team now, so not surprised that some fire sales have occurred.
-John
On Jan 29, 2026, at 12:26 PM, John Palmer via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
We have some servers colocated at this data center.
We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper.
The only notice we got was an invoice.
I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak.
When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER.
Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity?
I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well.
Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
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Once upon a time, Bruce Wainer <brwainer@gmail.com> said:
Please excuse my ignorance, but does this impact organizations who have a presence in 350 E Cermak via Equinix or other providers? My only experience with that building is as an Equinix customer. What I'm wondering is really: is this change in ownership of the whole building, or just a part of it the way that Equinix is just one part of it?
Digital Realty has had space at 350 E Cermak for years, since they bought Telx, so this isn't even something new in that building. Equinix is a separate space in the same building, so I wouldn't think this has any impact on them. -- Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net>
I know DR has owned the building for many years, but is my impression they have recently gotten into the business of running actual data centers rather than leasing space to people who do. Still unhappy with the lack of communication from them and their inability to get me e-mail. John -----Original Message----- From: Chris Adams via NANOG <nanog@lists.nanog.org> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 12:37 To: nanog@lists.nanog.org Cc: Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net> Subject: Re: Sorry, a short rant about Digital Realty, Hivelocity and 350 E. Cermak Once upon a time, Bruce Wainer <brwainer@gmail.com> said:
Please excuse my ignorance, but does this impact organizations who have a presence in 350 E Cermak via Equinix or other providers? My only experience with that building is as an Equinix customer. What I'm wondering is really: is this change in ownership of the whole building, or just a part of it the way that Equinix is just one part of it?
Digital Realty has had space at 350 E Cermak for years, since they bought Telx, so this isn't even something new in that building. Equinix is a separate space in the same building, so I wouldn't think this has any impact on them. -- Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net> _______________________________________________ NANOG mailing list https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/message/S2QZNU2A XDRMP3ZSMHBQAJUDANXSBSA6/
Once upon a time, John Palmer <nanog2@adns.net> said:
I know DR has owned the building for many years, but is my impression they have recently gotten into the business of running actual data centers rather than leasing space to people who do.
They've been doing that for years too. My $LASTJOB had a rack at 56 Marietta and 350 E Cermak, both under Digital Realty after they bought Telx (which Wikipedia says was 2015). -- Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net>
DLR can have some quirks but overall the service is good. Trying to speak to someone about billing can be impossible. We used to be a direct customer of theirs. After a few minor issues with them and wanting to pull out of 60 Hudson we told them we would only move to a different DLR facility if we could have our Telarus rep be in on the deal. There have been a few issues since we moved and whenever things start going poorly a simple cc to our Telarus rep does wonders. If you want an intro send me a DM. On Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 12:27 PM John Palmer via NANOG < nanog@lists.nanog.org> wrote:
So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork).
We have some servers colocated at this data center.
We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper.
The only notice we got was an invoice.
I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak.
When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER.
Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity?
I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well.
Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues.
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This was one reason why I decided to resign Hivelocity back in April of Last year. Just recently the old CEO (Jeremy) and COO (Jason) were fired. There's a New CEO assigned, and there's still a bunch of other changes that are in the pipeline to be occurring... Miami Colo was sold to DRT along with the Chicago Site, Miami BareMetal is going to get moved to Tampa 2, which i will only predict that it's not going to go well. Some of the items that were more than likely created which wasn't discussed was any colo customers that are using IP space from Colohouse which is now Hivelocity for the customers that were bought by Digital Reality. These were all issues that I brought up and they decided that they did not want to bring it up to Digital Reality... Crazy right? The Hivelocity (7 Teleport) New York site was in the process of being collapsed to a less network connected site in Orangeburg in New York. They didn't understand the purpose of the backbone of the network to help provide better overall connectivity so I'm sure that is one of the items that are inline to start to get dismantled as well.
Oh man.... First of all - a Hivelocity without Dan Protich isn't a good place to be, That's going to go downhill quickly... 2nd of all They're moving MIA bare metal to Tampa? That'll be interesting.... ---------------------------------------- From: "Dejan Protich via NANOG" <nanog@lists.nanog.org> Sent: 1/29/26 4:33 PM To: nanog@lists.nanog.org Cc: "Dejan Protich" <dan@arphost.com> Subject: Re: Sorry, a short rant about Digital Realty, Hivelocity and 350 E. Cermak This was one reason why I decided to resign Hivelocity back in April of Last year. Just recently the old CEO (Jeremy) and COO (Jason) were fired. There's a New CEO assigned, and there's still a bunch of other changes that are in the pipeline to be occurring... Miami Colo was sold to DRT along with the Chicago Site, Miami BareMetal is going to get moved to Tampa 2, which i will only predict that it's not going to go well. Some of the items that were more than likely created which wasn't discussed was any colo customers that are using IP space from Colohouse which is now Hivelocity for the customers that were bought by Digital Reality. These were all issues that I brought up and they decided that they did not want to bring it up to Digital Reality... Crazy right? The Hivelocity (7 Teleport) New York site was in the process of being collapsed to a less network connected site in Orangeburg in New York. They didn't understand the purpose of the backbone of the network to help provide bet ter overall connectivity so I'm sure that is one of the items that are inline to start to get dismantled as well. _______________________________________________ NANOG mailing list https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/message/CYTCCZXC...
I don't have colo, just a dedicated server and VMs with them, but I got this. I suspect it's related. I knew they sold their space to DRT, but I can't find an email on it, so it must have been via the news. Sent August 18th, 2025: Upcoming Maintenance Notification To our Valued Customers, As Hivelocity continues to expand globally and integrate operations, we are working to consolidate and optimize our data center footprints. Currently, Hivelocity has several data centers operating in the Chicagoland area. The decision has been made to migrate from our 350 Cermak facility, into our nearby 725 S. Wells facility. All dedicated servers, bare metal or cloud services hosted in our 350 Cermak facility will be migrating within the next 45 days. Colocation services will not be moved or impacted in any way. Our 725 S Wells location offers expanded capacity and is a fully managed suite maintained by Hivelocity. With an increased onsite technician presence, we ensure seamless operations and support. This location is also tied into the existing Hivelocity network through diverse dark fiber paths. We believe this will be an enhanced experience for our customers, while allowing our teams to streamline operations locally. As a current customer within the Chicago location, please be advised our intention is to migrate your services in a phased approach. Once the date and time of the migration becomes finalized, an additional notice will be sent to all impacted customers advising them of the formalized migration schedule, impacted services, and a downtime estimate. IP address information will NOT need to change. All network and access information will continue to function as you'd expect. No action is required on your part. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your account manager, or email support@hivelocity.net. We look forward to continuing to provide you with industry-leading services in the Chicago area and beyond. Best regards, Hivelocity Operations Team ----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Palmer via NANOG" <nanog@lists.nanog.org> To: nanog@lists.nanog.org Cc: "John Palmer" <nanog2@adns.net> Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 11:26:48 AM Subject: Sorry, a short rant about Digital Realty, Hivelocity and 350 E. Cermak So, it looks like Hivelocity sold their data center at 350 E Cermak to Digital Realty. I guess DR is getting into the business of actually running data centers (Althogh Telx's name is all over the paperwork). We have some servers colocated at this data center. We received no notice of this transfer either by e-mail or on paper. The only notice we got was an invoice. I spent 2 weeks trying to contact them and they never responded to my e-mail until a few days ago. Seems that their outbound MTA is incapable of delivering e-mail to our MTA, which is located AT THEIR DATA CENTER at 350 E Cermak. When I finally got in touch with them after trying for 2 weeks, it appears that 1) They have no online customer management portal (or are not giving us access to it), 2) They don't take credit cards and require a check or wire transfer (so 1960's) and 3) As I said, their MTA seems incapable of communicating with another MTA in THEIR DATA CENTER. Has anyone else had problems with them related to this transfer from Hivelocity? I think Hivelocity sold them their Miami data center as well. Hoping their service gets better soon. My suspicion is that they didn't plan the transition from Hivelocity very well and are scrambling to fix the issues. _______________________________________________ NANOG mailing list https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/message/N4EZB2HK...
Once upon a time, Michael Spears <michael@spears.io> said:
Oh man.... First of all - a Hivelocity without Dan Protich isn't a good place to be, That's going to go downhill quickly... 2nd of all They're moving MIA bare metal to Tampa? That'll be interesting....
Didn't Hivelocity buy some of the Quadranet locations as QN imploded? Maybe that wasn't such a good idea... -- Chris Adams <cma@cmadams.net>
No the Quadranet actually owed Colohouse a large sum so they(Hivelocity) basically got all the customers from the miami location, they did not get any ip space, and basically Hivelocity at that point has assigned a large amount of ip space to replace the ip space that was leased at that point in time to keep the customers online. Quadranet basically went bankrupt and their CTO at that point had made some poor decisions...
participants (11)
-
Bruce Wainer -
Chris Adams -
Daniel Golding -
Dejan Protich -
Dovid Bender -
Joel Busch -
John Palmer -
John Von Essen -
Michael Spears -
Mike Hammett -
Tim Burke