DE-CIX establishes sixth US Internet Exchange

Author: Simon Rowley

Internet Exchange (IX) operator, DE-CIX, has announced the establishment and commissioning of its sixth and southern-most US IX, DE-CIX Houston.

The IX will be housed in Databank’s Westway Park campus in Houston, accessible from HOU1, HOU2 and HOU3, as well as the Galleria (HOU5) facility. DE-CIX Houston is uniquely positioned to provide local networks with access to networks that are not currently available in Houston, with low latency connectivity to the vibrant ecosystem of DE-CIX Dallas, connecting more than 150 networks, as well as to further national and international DE-CIX locations.

Houston has a strong economy, a large presence of content networks, and more than 40 data centres, but remains the largest US city not to have an IX of substantial size relative to its market size. DE-CIX Houston’s IX infrastructure will launch with 100G ports and provide a range of services, including remote peering to all DE-CIX locations in North America, Europe, and beyond, direct connectivity to cloud service providers that are not present in Houston, and the Microsoft Azure Peering Service for low-latency access to the MS365 cloud. With direct connectivity to DE-CIX Dallas from day one, and to DE-CIX Mexico in due course, this move also expands what is already the largest neutral interconnection ecosystem in North America.

“With our expansion into Houston, we continue to build on our commitment to bring seamless connectivity to underserved markets,” explains Ed d’Agostino, Vice President of DE-CIX North America. “This move strengthens our market position in Texas and marks our sixth IX in the US, serving not only East Texas but also Southern Louisiana from a latency perspective. We are delighted to be working with our valued partner DataBank in Houston, as well as in New York and Dallas. Partnerships of this kind are central to expanding interconnectivity options to other key geographical locations across the US, helping to reduce connectivity gaps.”

Raul K. Martynek, DataBank CEO, adds, “Our partnership with DE-CIX marks a pivotal step in delivering best-in-class interconnection services for our customers in Houston. By integrating DE-CIX’s high-performance Internet Exchange capabilities into our data centre ecosystem, we’re enhancing connectivity, reducing latency, and providing our clients with seamless access to a global network of cloud and content providers. This transition reflects our commitment to delivering innovative, scalable, and resilient solutions that meet the evolving needs of enterprises in the region and beyond.”

Via diverse connectivity to Dallas, the new IX is also connected to all other DE-CIX locations in the US, including New York, Chicago, Phoenix, Richmond, and the Cloud Exchange in Seattle.

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