Summary

  • PeeringDB's network record for AS19035 calls itself HIX, declares one exchange attachment and zero facilities, and its single registered port sits on ix 267, DRFortress Exchange in Honolulu — not on the Hawaii Internet Exchange record at ix 1470.
  • The fabric that actually holds that 10,000 Mbps port lists 34 networks, one facility and zero IX-F imports as of 10 November 2026, so anyone checking Hawaii's local peering from public records has no machine-readable member list to check against.

The most useful thing about a registry is also the most dangerous: it answers a question instantly, in a field, with a number that looks like a measurement. On 10 November 2026 the answer to "what does the Hawaii Internet Exchange actually connect?" required reading four of those fields across three objects, two names and one ASN. They do not agree with each other.

Three objects, one name

Start with the record the BTW directory card rests on. AS19035's entry in PeeringDB is named, simply, "HIX" (PeeringDB network record for AS19035). It self-classifies as Educational/Research, claims an open peering policy with locations "Not Required" and contracts "Not Required", and declares capacity in prefixes rather than ports: 20,000 IPv4 and 2,000 IPv6. It records one exchange attachment and zero facilities. Its network-to-facility field has never been populated. Its website field is empty, as are the route server, IRR set and looking glass fields.

The record was created on 11 December 2019 and last updated on 7 February 2023. But its exchange attachment was frozen much earlier: the netixlan timestamp reads 18 December 2019, a week after the object itself appeared.

Then ask the question the object cannot answer, which is where the port physically is. A netixlan query for that network returns exactly one row (PeeringDB netixlan record for net_id 21728). It is port id 54370, at 10,000 Mbps, operational, not a route-server peer, with IPv4 206.197.210.10 and IPv6 2606:7c80:3375:50::10. Its exchange is ix_id 267, named "DRF IX". Its created and updated timestamps are both 18 December 2019 — written once at 23:18 and touched again at 23:19, then never revised.

That response contains no row for ix_id 1470. The PeeringDB page at that identifier is titled "Hawaii Internet Exchange (HIX)" (PeeringDB exchange page at ix 1470). So the network wearing the exchange's name is not registered as attached to the exchange wearing the exchange's name. It is attached to something else.

The fabric that holds the port

The something else turns out to be the more substantial object. Exchange 267 is named "DRF IX", long name "DRFortress Exchange", located in Honolulu, United States, in PeeringDB's North America grouping (PeeringDB exchange record at ix 267). Media is Ethernet, IPv4 unicast and IPv6 are enabled, multicast is not. It reports 34 networks and 1 facility. It was created on 29 July 2010 and last updated on 22 January 2020.

Thirty-four networks is a real fabric, at least on paper — the largest count in this trail by a factor of thirty-four. Treat it for what it is, though. That field counts network objects listed against the exchange in a self-reported database. It is not a count of paying members, installed ports or live BGP sessions, and nothing in the record distinguishes a network that bought a cross-connect from one that filled in a form.

What the record does establish is a gap of a specific kind. Its IX-F fields read: networks imported, 0; last import, null; import request status, "queued". Terms and service level both read "Not Disclosed". A queued request is a database state on the observation date, not a promise anyone made about publication. But the practical consequence is plain. The one Honolulu fabric with a substantive member count in this trail publishes no machine-readable member list through the mechanism every automated peering tool reads first.

For an operator sizing a presence in Honolulu, that changes the work. You cannot reconcile a prospective peer against an exported member list, because there is no exported member list. You ask a human, and you trust the answer.

What the port record does and does not prove

Ten thousand megabits is a specific number and it deserves a specific caution. It is the speed field on one self-reported row, written on 18 December 2019 and not revisited since. It is not a measurement of traffic, of committed capacity, of utilisation or of service quality on that port. Nothing in these records says whether the port carries a gigabit-hour in a month.

The absence of an ix 1470 row in the netixlan response is narrower still. It is evidence about one API response on one date. It is not proof that no cross-connect, contract, settlement or physical link exists between the parties. Exchange memberships are commercially private, and a database that lacks a row has established only that it lacks a row.

Nor was any operator document read here. No tariff, contract, annual report or regulator filing for either exchange was retrieved. This article describes field values and their arrangement. It says nothing about prices, service levels or contractual terms, because the retained sources say nothing about them.

The card that started this

The BTW directory entry for Hawaii Internet Exchange is a private_company whose headquarters country and registration jurisdiction both read "Global" — a placeholder, not a jurisdiction finding (Hawaii Internet Exchange in the BTW directory). It has no website, no aliases, no relationships, no leadership contacts and one data gap asking for exactly the legal-entity, service and asset facts a reader would want. Its card confidence is 0.95. That number rests on a single evidence row, a public registry record at rdap.org/autnum/19035, carrying evidence confidence 0.82.

One ASN, cited once, at four decimal places of confidence. That is the whole documentary basis for a card that a reader would reasonably treat as describing an exchange.

What a reader should carry away

Hawaii's local peering is not undocumented. It is documented in pieces that do not join: a name at ix 1470 with no retrievable member detail, an ASN named after that exchange whose only port is elsewhere, and a Honolulu fabric with 34 networks, one facility and zero IX-F imports. The trail is legible, and it stops.

That is the finding, and it is dated: as of 10 November 2026, the public record cannot tell you who peers in Hawaii. It can tell you who filled in a form, when they filled it in, and which form they left empty.