Story by Dan Golding, Tier1 Reseach
The North American Internet exchange point (IXP) business – public peering – is largely dominated by Equinix, with some localized competition from Switch and Data (Palo Alto, New York), Telx (Atlanta, Phoenix), CRG West (various) and Terremark (Miami). In most cases, the winning strategy is to be where Equinix isn’t – Silicon Valley is an exception because PAIX was there first. It’s not that there isn’t enough interconnection business for two locations – it’s that in the US, most traffic is privately interconnected, leaving a relatively modest amount for public IXP interconnection. That traffic and money is best concentrated, rather than distributed.
That thought comes to mind in light of some interesting news regarding the ChiX IXP located at 350 Cermak (suite 240) in Chicago. Sharp-eyed readers will recognize that building as the site of Equinix’s CH1 and CH2 facilities, on floors 5 and 6. Telx also has a meet me room in the facility. The news is that Tiscali is offering remote peering service – essentially VPN transport services – to allow folks in other facilities to access the ChiX switch.
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