- IX.br is Brazil’s largest Internet exchange point system, operating with 36 exchange points across the country.
- DE-CIX is a global operator of carrier- and data-center-neutral Internet Exchanges, with a significant presence in various locations.
- Equinix is a prominent company with 94 international business exchange (IBX) data centres, offering top-tier infrastructure and services worldwide.
An Internet exchange point (IXP) is a critical component of Internet infrastructure, located at central points in networks, used to aggregate and exchange traffic between different Internet service providers (ISPs) and network operators (NOs).
Through IXPs, these companies can directly exchange data traffic, improving network connection speeds and efficiency. Well-known IXPs globally include Equinix in the United States, DE-CIX and LINX in Europe, and HKIX and JPNAP in Asia, playing a vital role in optimising network traffic and facilitating data exchange worldwide. According to the latest data, the three largest IXPs in the world are IX.br, DE-CIX, and Equinix. In the following sections, each of the three will be discussed in detail.
IX.br
IX.br is Brazil’s Internet exchange point system, operated by the government agency Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil (Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, CGI.br), and funded as a non-profit by NIC.br. It comprises a network of metropolitan area IXPs (known as PIXes in Brazil) connecting commercial and academic networks, managed centrally. As of January 2024, IX.br has 36 Internet exchange points across Brazil. In 2023, its aggregated traffic peaked at over 31 Tb/s, making it the world’s largest IXP aggregator.
The key IX.br points are in São Paulo, with a traffic peak exceeding 22 Tb/s, and in Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro at around 4 Tb/s each. São Paulo’s IXP is the largest globally in terms of both traffic volume and participants, boasting over 2400 ASNs by early 2024.
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DE-CIX
DE-CIX (Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange) is an operator of carrier- and data-centre-neutral Internet Exchanges, with a presence across Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. The DE-CIX Group AG oversees all DE-CIX activities and entities.
The DE-CIX Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in Frankfurt, Germany, stands as one of the world’s largest IXPs based on peak traffic, registering a throughput of 14.40 Tb/s in December 2022. Apart from its Frankfurt IXP, DE-CIX operates in approximately 40 locations globally, with three additional IXPs handling peak traffic exceeding 1 Tb/s: DE-CIX New York, DE-CIX Madrid, and DE-CIX Mumbai. Notably, DE-CIX Mumbai claimed the title of the largest IXP in the APAC region as per Peering DB’s data in 2021.
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Equinix
Founded in 1998, Equinix is a world-leading company in terms of data centre scale and revenue. It operates in 31 markets across 14 countries and regions in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. With 94 international business exchange (IBX) data centres, Equinix achieved approximately $1.9 billion in sales revenue in 2012. Equinix pioneered the concept of an industry ecosystem built on its data centre network, attracting clients from various sectors including network operators, internet content and digital media companies, financial enterprises, cloud computing and IT service providers. It ensures the security of these clients’ data assets through top-tier infrastructure and services while facilitating interconnectivity and business expansion among them.
