Internet Exchange Point

In order to exchange information and traffic, major network providers require a physical access point to facilitate interconnection of networks. This physical access point is known as Internet Exchange Point (IXP) and comprises of multiple high-speed Ethernet switches. Internet Exchange Points were designed to obviate the need for the ISP’s network traffic to pass through upstream provider. Internet Exchange Points act as a common platform for exchanging Internet traffic between various autonomous network systems and usually situated in same city for latency mitigation.

Internet Exchange Points can also offer to work as backup links for maintaining traffic flow during failure of direst link. A mutual peering agreement governs the exchange of traffic through Internet Exchange Points where the ISPs are required to indicate routes through peering relationship. Border Gateway Protocol facilitates the exchange of traffic through Internet Exchange Points. All Internet Service Providers that participate in exchange share the costs of running Internet Exchange Points and can be in the form of annual or monthly fees that are determined by considering volume and type of traffic.