We routinely talk about what an IX is and how it can benefit you.  We don’t talk about what an IX isn’t.  In this post, we will go over some of the things FD-IX and many others exchanges are not. Let’s get into it

  • Not an ISP:
    IXPs are not Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and don’t sell internet access to end-users.  We at FD-IX,  have several transit providers on the exchange and don’t wish to compete with those providers.

  • Peering, not Transit:
    IXPs facilitate peering, where networks exchange traffic directly rather than routing traffic through a third-party transit provider.

  • Not a full Internet Table:
    Most IXPs do not carry the full Internet table, and cover only small parts of the Internet.  The idea is to keep traffic local.