Tech group launches local Internet exchange NashIX
You craft an email to a co-worker on the other side of the cubicle. The email travels all the way to Atlanta, Chicago or another Internet hub before arriving in your colleague's inbox.
A group of Nashville tech leaders determined a more efficient system was needed. DevDigital, 365 Data Centers and Peace Communications, all tech companies with a local presence, have created NashIX, a local Internet exchange that they say will make local connection faster, less expensive and ensure an open and equal Internet.
"It's a major step toward being a real tech hub and develop the movement in Nashville toward building better technology infrastructure," said Michael Woolf, a DevDigital product development director. "There is certainly no shortage of need for faster and more accessibility."
Woolf compares the exchanges to airports. Without a local exchange, Nashvillians and those in surrounding areas are dependent on the nearly two dozen exchanges in other areas, meaning longer travel distances, more traffic and and lengthy travel times. The NashIX creators estimate Internet access speeds will increase by four times and costs could drop by 70 percent for Internet providers and businesses.
The exchange will be at 365 Data Centers, a California-based data center for local businesses that opened last year in downtown Nashville, and it will not give preference to one carrier versus another. Internet companies — Google, Facebook, Netflix and others — could use the local exchange to better reach Nashville-area consumers, Woolf said. He said NashIX could grow to the size of exchanges underway in New York, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago.
365 Data Centers and DevDigital managing partner Peter Marcum previously cofounded a similar exchange in Atlanta, a co-op that became Telx Internet Exchange.
"The unprecedented growth of the Internet due to the consumption of online video, music and cloud services has made it difficult for service providers and big Internet businesses to scale cost-effectively," said Keao Caindec, chief commercial officer at 365 Data Centers. "The NashIX will make the Internet faster and more affordable, enabling small and large businesses in Nashville to benefit."
Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitteer @JamieMcGee_.
Reach Jamie McGee at 615-259-8071 and on Twitteer @JamieMcGee_.