What is an Internet Exchange?

What is Internet Exchange Point?

An Internet exchange point (IXP) is a physical location through which Internet infrastructure companies such as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and CDNs connect with each other. By having a presence inside of an IXP location, companies are able to shorten their path to the transit coming from other participating networks, thereby reducing latency, improving round-trip time, and potentially reducing costs.

An Internet Exchange Point (IXP) is a network facility that enables the interconnection and exchange of Internet traffic between more than two independent Autonomous Systems. An IXP provides interconnection only for Autonomous Systems.

Why is Internet Exchange Point required?

When data traverses across the internet, it is repeatedly being re-routed and re-directed among networks. Sometimes, traffic on one network has to switch to a different network owned by another. Internet exchanges facilitate this kind of data transfer through a peering process which allows networks to forward traffic between each other’s networks without having to pay a third party to carry it across the internet for them. The primary purpose of an IXP is to allow networks to interconnect directly, via the exchange, rather than going through one or more third-party networks. The primary advantages of direct interconnection are cost, latency, and bandwidth.

A network is a group of two or more computers or other electronic devices that are interconnected for the purpose of exchanging data and sharing resources. An example of a network is the Internet, which connects millions of people all over the world. It consists of various organizations including Internet service providers(ISP), network service providers(NSP), Telecom & Voice Providers, Content Distribution Networks (CDN), Cloud Services, Hosting Providers, Educational and Enterprises, Security Providers, and other types of networks.

In a network without IXPs, traffic going from one network to another would potentially rely on an intermediary network to carry the traffic from source to destination. These are called transit providers. In some situations there’s no problem with doing this: it’s how a large portion of international Internet traffic flows, as it’s cost-prohibitive to maintain direct connections to every ISP in the world.