DE-CIX initiates ‘game-changing’ carrier-neutral Internet Exchange in New York

Built on the same successful open model as DE-CIX in Frankfurt, DE-CIX North America will engineer the new Internet exchanges in the U.S. for the high-capacity, high-performance Layer 2 interconnection known as "Peering."

Different than the prevailing U.S. Internet traffic exchange model, DE-CIX will deploy a large-scale Ethernet switching fabric, combined with an all-fiber metro optical backbone that supports traffic volumes of up to numerous Terabits per second across multiple data centers in the selected metropolitan areas. This will enable all types of Internet providers to exchange traffic across the neutral, distributed infrastructure. This is an advantage over current U.S. colocation and exchange models, in which data centers primarily serve their own on-campus tenants or connect customers with passive Private Interconnects (PI).

"New York is a world-class city with an active interest in evolving its digital infrastructure to the highest levels," states Harald A. Summa, CEO for DE-CIX. "The city is the top choice for Internet companies right now. We therefore selected New York City as the headquarters of our new U.S. operations and also decided to make New York the home of our first Internet exchange deployment in North America."

"NYC is home to a huge concentration of ISPs, including broadband providers, content companies and a thriving and growing tech community," continues Summa. "Establishing and developing the new exchange will go far in elevating New York's reputation as one of the world's great technology hubs, in addition to its other first-rate attributes. DE-CIX's new exchange in New York will be operational soon, while we are also planning for deployments in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles. DE-CIX will help these selected cities to grow their role as Internet hubs and finally achieve the major role they deserve in the global Internet ecosystem."

The City of New York has already taken action to address digital infrastructure development with programs such as the ConnectNYC Fiber Access program. These efforts are an essential element of making the city a better place for both companies and individuals.

"We are in the midst of transforming New York City into the world's leading digital city," says Rachel Haot, New York City's Chief Digital Officer. "Our work is about ensuring that digital technology touches all New Yorkers to improve their lives. Implementing this neutral Internet exchange in our City is an important step forward in improving the fundamental technology infrastructure that fuels our New York City and enables it to compete globally with other digital hubs."

Following the open Internet exchange approach, DE-CIX will continue to support the Open-IX initiative, which is a new industry group that supports, among other topics, the creation of neutral and cost-efficient Internet exchanges that are backed by the Internet community at large.

DE-CIX successfully operates and manages Internet exchanges throughout the globe, including UAE-IX in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which recently announced record growth; and DE-CIX in Frankfurt, Germany.