CyrusOne Receives Open-IX Certification in Six Markets

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CyrusOne's Phoenix data center is one of the locations that has been certified by the Open-IX Association. (Photo: CyrusOne)

CyrusOne has received data center certification from the Open-IX Association for six of its largest data centers. The company is among the first batch of providers to receive Open-IX certification and the first to receive multi-site data center certification. CyrusOne data centers in Dallas, Houstin, Austin, Cincinnati, and Phoenix have been certified.

Open-IX began accepting applications for North American Data Center and Internet Exchange Points earlier this month. The company began accepting applications in the key Northern Virginia market in 2013, but saw demand in other regions.

Open-IX, as a refresher, wants to create a new network of Internet exchange points (IXPs), creating neutral, member-governed exchanges that allow participants to trade traffic. The group is embracing a non-profit model that is widely used in Europe and spreads exchange operations across multiple data centers in a market. In the U.S. these exchanges are typically hosted by commercial providers, with interconnections focused in a single facility or campus operated by that provider.

A More Robust Ecosystem

“We’re very pleased to receive data center certification from OIX and excited to participate in the continued growth of the organization,” said Josh Snowhorn, vice president and general manager of Interconnection at CyrusOne. “With six of our largest data centers now certified we can bring OIX participants such as cloud, content and network providers closer to our Fortune 1000 customers. This allows for a more robust data center ecosystem that can deliver greater efficiencies, resiliency and transparency.”

Many providers have announced their intention to get Open-IX certified. Digital Realty has initiated the Open-IX certification process. Digital Realty is in the process of applying for Open-IX certification for its data centers in several key markets, including New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

There has been a surge of European Internet Exchanges entering North America as well. The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) opened in New York,  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.