AMS-IX Opens Internet Exchange in the New York Market

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An aerial view of the DuPont Fabros NJ1 data center in Piscataway, New Jersey, which will be one of the sites for a new Internet Exchange from AMS-IX. (Photo: DuPont Fabros Technology.)

The European Internet exchanges keep coming. The latest provider to enter the US market in AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) today announced plans to create an exchange spanning four data centers in New York and New Jersey. The move reflects growing momentum for Open-IX, the movement to spread the European model for exchanging traffic between major networks.

AMS-IX USA Inc. has struck deals with Digital Realty, DuPont Fabros Technology, Sabey Data Centers and 325 Hudson in the New York/New Jersey area to build and operate a distributed Internet Exchange, named AMS-IX New York.

AMS-IX says it will also deploy new Open-IX exchanges in the Chicago and Silicon Valley markets, which will go live in the first and second quarter of 2014, respectively. This new business initiative is a response to the certification process by the Open-IX Association for the setup of neutral and distributed Internet Exchanges in the United States.

Surge of Entrants from Europe

This makes AMS-IX the third major European exchange operator to enter the US market this year. The London Internet Exchange (LINX) is launching the LINX NoVa exchange across three sites in northern Virginia, while Frankfurt-based DE-CIX is setting up an exchange in the New York market.

The recent rise of the Open-IX movement has reinvigorated efforts to bring the European approach to exchanges to the US market. In the European interconnection model, Internet traffic exchanges are managed by participants, rather than the colocation providers hosting the infrastructure. This model has struggled to establish itself in the U.S., where peering has been focused on commercial exchanges, especially thoses operated by Equinix. The Open-IX framework is emphasizing a neutral governance model and the technical compliance of any participating data center providers.

The new AMS-IX exchange will be spread across three data centers in Manhattan and one in central New Jersey:

AMS-IX said it could add more locations in the New York market if it sees market demand and interest from other data center providers. In Amsterdam, the AMS-IX exchange platform is distributed across 12 different data centers serving more than 600 IP networks from around the globe. Established in the early 1990s, AMS-IX has a traffic peak of around 2.5 terabits per second.

"The opportunity to start neutral, distributed Internet Exchanges in the US with the endorsement of the Open-IX community fits our strategy of building Internet Exchanges in connectivity hub locations around the world," said Job Witteman, Chief Executive Officer of AMS-IX. "We believe the model will bring the North American IP interconnection market tremendous value by decreasing complexity as well as the associated costs. AMS-IX is committed to bringing about this market transformation, and is pleased to have found initial partners in two major market participants Digital Realty and DuPont Fabros Technology."

"We are pleased to be collaborating with AMS-IX on this important initiative," said Michael Foust, Chief Executive Officer at Digital Realty (DLR). "By helping establish a truly open Internet Exchange environment, we are supporting the Open-IX community's desire for neutral exchanges that are more efficient and cost-effective than those available today. The end result for our customers will be access to enhanced interconnectivity and Internet peering capabilities."

Customer Benefit Seen

“Building upon our carrier-neutrality principle, we are glad to support the Open-IX Association and encourage the deployment of the AMS-IX New York Internet Exchange in our Piscataway NJ1 data center," said Hossein Fateh, President and Chief Executive officer of DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT). The AMS-IX Internet Exchange at NJ1 will complement the network providers and the New York Stock Exchange currently providing connectivity services to our customers. We expect our customers to benefit from this open Peering and Interconnectivity environment."

“We are very happy to partner with AMS-IX New York on this important market-changing initiative. Offering more choice in the New York City market to carriers and customers is good for everyone,” added John Sabey, President of Sabey Data Centers.

AMS-IX New York is currently accepting orders in the 111 8th Digital Realty facility, where it says it is ready to provision customer ports.

"With our experience of building and managing Internet Exchanges in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and East Africa we have a blueprint for rolling out new exchange platforms," Henk Steenman, Chief Technical Officer of AMS-IX. "All of the configurations, management and monitoring systems are pre-defined and ready for deployment. The main priority is to extend the organization, the team and to deploy the equipment and local Dark Fiber between the several data centers, as well as with other companies that are willing to partner with AMS-IX, and are Open-IX certified and commercially feasible."