World’s largest exchange provider strengthens local platform
5 February 2015 by Drew Amorosi – Datacenter Dynamics
AMS-IX USA, the US subdivision of the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), will establish a point-of-presence (PoP) connection at Telx’s NYC2 data center in Manhattan. Located at 111 8th Avenue – in the Google-owned Port of New York Authority Building – the European-based provider will set up a physical exchange platform for internet related traffic at Telx’s colocation facility.
“AMS-IX New York provides a physical platform, deployed within five data center facilities, where parties can meet to exchange internet-related traffic with one another”, the two companies said in a joint statement. The IP exchange, or peering service, allows for faster, more stable, and more resilient network performance.
The first node on the AMS-IX New York exchange was announced in November 2013, when the non-profit service partnered with Digital Realty Trust to establish an access point at the colocation provider’s facility in Manhattan. Then, in April 2014, AMS-IX partnered with Sabey Data Centers on its second PoP connection within Sabey’s 32-story SDC Manhattan.
“This partnership enables AMS-IX New York and Telx to provide customers with additional peering opportunities to other connected parties on the platform, including those customers that are located in other data center facilities,” noted the joint statement. In addition to Telx’s NYC2 data center, the AMS-IX platform will connect the data center provider’s other Manhattan locations – NYC1 at 60 Hudson Street and NYC3 at 32 Avenue of the Americas.
AMS-IX first entered the US market in 2012; the company claims its New York exchange is the “only distributed and neutral Open-IX certified Internet exchange in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area.” Open-IX is the industry organization looking to establish a standardized approach to internet exchanges, while diversifying an exchange market that is currently dominated by a handful of companies. The Open-IX approach removes the need for a commercial transit provider and allows parties connected to the platform to directly exchange IP traffic.
Open-IX members include internet exchange, data center, and networking providers, and the association provides endorsements for data centers and exchange operators that comply with its standards. While Equinix is the largest exchange provider in the US, AMS-IX has managed to score partnerships with other major players in market, including CoreSite and Telx.
