Where Are All the Internet Exchanges?

If you’re a regular on this blog, you're probably familiar with our submarine cable and cloud infrastructure maps.

But you may not know about the third tool in our interactive map tool belt: the internet exchange map.

What is an internet exchange?

Internet exchanges (also known as IXs or IXPs) are physical locations where networks come together to connect and exchange traffic with each other. And there are a lot of them across the globe.

What's the difference between an IX and a data center?

This is not to be confused with a data center. A data center is a physical facility that houses IT infrastructure—including servers, storage, and networking equipment—used by organizations to store, process, and distribute large amounts of data and run applications. A data center provides a secure and controlled environment with power, cooling, and connectivity. They can be owned and operated by a single organization or offered as colocation services, where multiple tenants can rent space for their equipment.

As discussed, that's slightly different than an IX, which is the physical location where different ISPs and content delivery networks (CDNs) connect their networks.

This is what the IX ecosystem looks like when mapped 👇

About the Internet Exchange Map

This free resource provides an easy way to find public exchanges from around the world.

Select an internet exchange from the list provided to view the buildings in which that exchange is located.

Or, select a building from the map projection to view its street address and information about the internet exchanges present there.

Head over to internetexchangemap.com to get started.