From a Handshake to 3,456-Count Fiber: Astound and Flexential Celebrate a Decade of Engineering the Silicon Forest’s AI Backbone

Partnership Marks 10 Years of Transforming Hillsboro into a Premier Global Interconnection Hub and the Primary Gateway for Trans-Pacific Traffic

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flexential, a leading provider of secure and flexible data center solutions, and Astound Business Solutions, an award-winning, nationwide provider of high-capacity and secure connectivity for business customers, are commemorating 10 years of strategic partnership that has redefined the digital fabric of the Pacific Northwest.

A decade ago, the Hillsboro data center market was in its infancy, lacking direct subsea cable landings and seamless interconnection. Then, a partnership was sparked by a handshake and a shared vision between industry veterans Bill Cory of Flexential and the late Greg Palser, co-founder of CoastCom (now part of Astound).

Recognizing that Hillsboro needed a carrier-neutral ecosystem to compete with hubs like Ashburn, Virginia, the team constructed the region’s first high-capacity 864-count fiber ring. This move triggered a network effect, bringing international connectivity directly to the data center floor and eliminating traditional bottlenecks in downtown Portland.

Fueling the AI Era and Beyond

Today, the infrastructure has scaled to meet the explosive demands of 2026 and beyond. The partnership now manages a 3,456-count dark fiber ring, enabling terabit-scale capacity and ultra-low latency cross-connects.

"In 2014, Hillsboro wasn't even on the map from a connectivity standpoint, but Greg Palser had the foresight to see it becoming the next major digital ecosystem," said Matt Updenkelder, Vice President of Infrastructure Development at Astound Business Solutions. "Today, we provide the unlimited bandwidth and local accountability Flexential needs to scale. It is a privilege to carry on Greg’s legacy, ensuring this region remains a global leader in AI-ready infrastructure."

A definitive turning point occurred when Flexential’s Hillsboro 2 Brookwood facility was selected as the landing point for major subsea backhaul cables from the Asia-Pacific region. Today, four subsea cables terminate at the Flexential Brookwood campus via Astound’s geographically diverse fiber paths.

"Our partnership with Astound has been the anchor that allowed Hillsboro to grow from three data centers to more than fifteen in just a decade," said Cory, now Vice President of Wholesale Sales at Flexential. "By landing the first subsea cables and linking our buildings with high-count fiber, we’ve created a premier destination where customers can reach any provider globally with unrivaled redundancy. This was the prerequisite for the current AI surge."

BY THE NUMBERS: 2016 v. 2026

Fiber Density: 864 → 3,456 strands
Data Center Footprint: 6 → 15+ facilities
Subsea Cable Landings: 0 → 5 direct backhaul landings
Capacity: Multi-gigabit → Terabit-scale
Infrastructure Status: Emerging regional site → Global interconnection hub

About Astound Business Solutions

Astound Business Solutions provides IT leaders with high-capacity, secure connectivity for their mission-critical applications while increasing overall agility and responsiveness. A part of Astound, the award-winning national telecommunications provider offers advanced solutions delivered over a diverse, carrier-grade network that provides the speed, bandwidth, and reliability businesses need to support growing data demands. With coast-to-coast connectivity to over 75,000 business customers, Astound Business Solutions maintains a local, customer-centric approach, with dedicated industry experts on-hand around the clock to help businesses stay on top of today’s evolving IT technology and remain competitive in their markets.

About Flexential

Flexential empowers the IT journey of the most complex businesses by offering customizable hybrid IT solutions designed for today's demanding high-density computing requirements. With colocation, cloud, interconnection, data protection, and professional services, the FlexAnywhere^® Platform anchors our services in 40 data centers across 18 highly connected markets on a scalable 100Gbps+ private network backbone. Flexential solutions are strategically engineered to meet the most stringent challenges in security, compliance, and resiliency. Experience the power of IT flexibility and how we enable digital transformation at www.flexential.com.