Hurricane Electric

Hurricane Electric
Name	Hurricane Electric
Type	Private
Industry	Internet service provider
Founded	1994
Founder	Mike Leber
Headquarters	Fremont, California
Area served	Global
Products	Internet transit, IPv6 services, colocation, DNS
Num employees	(est.) 200–500

Hurricane Electric

Hurricane Electric is a global Internet service provider specializing in IP transit, IPv6 deployment, and global peering. Founded in the mid-1990s, the company operates a large backbone network with extensive fiber routes, numerous points of presence in metropolitan data centers, and active participation in Internet exchange points. Hurricane Electric has become notable for its aggressive IPv6 advocacy, automated tunnel services, and public transit and colocation offerings that serve enterprises, content providers, and telecommunications companies.

History

Hurricane Electric was founded in 1994 by Mike Leber during the early commercial expansion of the Internet in the United States. The company grew alongside developments such as Classless Inter-Domain Routing and the rapid build-out of fiber infrastructure in the 1990s, expanding its backbone to interconnect with major carriers like AT&T and Verizon Communications as well as regional networks. In the 2000s Hurricane Electric invested heavily in IPv6 initiatives partly in response to the IPv4 address exhaustion documented by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and Regional Internet Registries such as ARIN and RIPE NCC. Throughout the 2010s the company extended its footprint into Europe, Asia, and Latin America with new points of presence in major data centers operated by providers like Equinix and Interxion. Hurricane Electric’s public-facing tools and outreach have been cited in discussions at venues including IETF meetings and presentations by researchers from institutions such as University of California, Berkeley.

Network Infrastructure

Hurricane Electric operates an extensive IP backbone composed of dense fiber routes and multi-terabit switching fabric that interconnects hundreds of metropolitan data centers. The backbone architecture emphasizes low-latency paths between major Internet hubs such as Ashburn, Virginia, Los Angeles, California, London, Amsterdam, and Singapore. Hurricane Electric maintains points of presence in carrier-neutral facilities including Equinix campuses, Digital Realty sites, and regional exchanges run by organizations like LINX. The network leverages routing systems compatible with protocols standardized at the IETF and uses hardware from vendors commonly deployed at scale in service provider networks. Hurricane Electric’s global Autonomous System advertises IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes and implements BGP import/export policies to peer with transit customers, content delivery networks such as Akamai Technologies and Cloudflare, and regional ISPs represented at exchanges like DE-CIX and AMS-IX.

Services Offered

Hurricane Electric offers a suite of services including IP transit, dedicated Internet access, colocation interconnect solutions, and IPv6 transition tools. Its IP transit service is marketed to enterprises, content providers, and telecommunications firms seeking global reach and redundancy comparable to offerings from Level 3 Communications (now part of Lumen Technologies) and legacy carriers. For IPv6 adoption, Hurricane Electric provides automated tunnelbroker services used by network engineers and researchers, along with publicly accessible testbeds and deployment resources cited by contributors to RIPE NCC and APNIC. The company also provides DNS hosting, reverse DNS delegation, and routing registry support compatible with regional registries and the Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) ecosystem. Colocation interconnection services support cross-connects to major cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform within carrier-neutral data centers.

Peering and Internet Exchange Participation

Hurricane Electric maintains a highly connected peering policy with open peering at numerous Internet exchange points and private peering arrangements with major networks. The company is an active participant at exchanges including DE-CIX, LINX, AMS-IX, IX.br, and multiple metropolitan exchanges across North America and Asia. Hurricane Electric’s peering fabric supports bilateral BGP sessions with content delivery networks like Fastly and major transit providers to optimize routing and reduce transit costs for customers. The operator’s approach to public peering has been referenced in technical summaries produced by exchange operators and in network operator community documentation such as that curated by Packet Clearing House. Its IPv6-capable peering is often cited by researchers benchmarking dual-stack connectivity metrics across exchanges administered by organizations like Euro-IX.

Security and Stability Practices

Hurricane Electric employs routing security and operational practices aligned with industry frameworks, including implementation of BGP route filtering, prefix limits, and RPKI validation to mitigate prefix hijacking incidents like those reported in high-profile cases involving networks such as YouTube and other major content providers. The company publishes operational contact procedures and participates in incident coordination efforts described by FIRST and regional computer emergency response teams such as US-CERT. Network monitoring, traffic engineering, and DDoS mitigation strategies are coordinated with upstream providers and with on-site scrubbing capabilities in major data center locations such as Equinix facilities and neutral exchange points. Hurricane Electric engages with the network operator community through forums like NANOG and shares best practices consistent with guidance from standard-setting bodies including the IETF.

Corporate Structure and Operations

Hurricane Electric is privately held and headquartered in Fremont, California, operating as an independent carrier with a management and engineering staff that oversees global operations. The company’s commercial model combines wholesale transit sales, direct peering, and colocation interconnection services sold through channel partners and direct enterprise contracts. Financial and operational comparisons are often contextualized against public and private peers such as Cogent Communications and Zayo Group. Hurricane Electric participates in industry associations and registry activities with entities like ARIN and RIPE NCC and supports community initiatives for IPv6 education and operational tooling used by universities and research networks including Internet2 and academic institutions engaged in networking research.

Category:Internet service providers Category:Companies based in Fremont, California