Editing Internet exchange point (section)

{{Short description|Internet infrastructure through which ISPs exchange traffic}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Internet history timeline}}

'''Internet exchange points''' ('''IXes''' or '''IXPs''') are common grounds of [[Internet Protocol|IP]] networking, allowing participant [[Internet service provider|Internet service providers (ISPs)]] to exchange data destined for their respective networks.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Art of Peering - The IX Playbook|url=http://www.drpeering.net/white-papers/Art-Of-Peering-The-IX-Playbook.html|access-date=18 April 2015|archive-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220190247/http://www.drpeering.net/white-papers/Art-Of-Peering-The-IX-Playbook.html|url-status=live}}</ref>  IXPs are generally located at places with preexisting connections to multiple distinct networks, ''i.e.'', [[Datacenter|datacenters]], and operate physical infrastructure ([[Ethernet switch|switches]]) to connect their participants.  Organizationally, most IXPs are each independent not-for-profit associations of their constituent participating networks (that is, the set of ISPs that participate in that IXP). The primary alternative to IXPs is [[private peering]], where ISPs directly connect their networks.

IXPs reduce the portion of an ISP's traffic that must be delivered via their [[upstream (networking)|upstream]] [[Internet transit|transit]] providers, thereby reducing the [[average per-bit delivery cost]] of their service.  Furthermore, the increased number of paths available through the IXP improves [[Least-cost routing|routing efficiency]] (by allowing routers to select shorter paths) and [[fault-tolerance]]. IXPs exhibit the characteristics of the [[network effect]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Internet Service Providers and Peering v3.0|url=http://www.drpeering.net/white-papers/Internet-Service-Providers-And-Peering.html|access-date=18 April 2015|archive-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150420130051/http://drpeering.net/white-papers/Internet-Service-Providers-And-Peering.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/awasr-ams-ix-and-alliance-networks-launch-internet-exchange-in-oman/</ref>