CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA – March 26, 2014 – First and foremost, I’d like to thank Equinix, Terremark, and the other visionary hosts and sponsors of the Global Peering Forum. Without you, the semi-annual gathering of peering professionals that we know as GPF would not be possible. The hard work of the organizers does not go unnoticed and I’m proud to be surrounded by such a talented group of people.
Over the past 8 GPFs, peering in North America and globally has changed dramatically. No longer should exchanges be measured in the amount of megabits, gigabits, or terabits they deliver but instead should be measured by the value that they bring to interconnection in the markets in which they operate. The value of peering is in the cost and performance benefits that it brings a mutual pair of networks, no matter the form or scale.
To that end, the Open-IX board feels resolute that exchanges and facilities that help accomplish that goal localization of traffic at a market driven price need a forum to meet, exchange ideas, negotiate and socialize. No longer should valuable Internet exchanges such as the TorIX, MICE, and SIX and facilities such as EdgeConnex, DuPont Fabros and Digital Realty Trust be disallowed from participating. They must be allowed to use this valuable forum to bring their networks together with the networks of more established market forces in order to deliver the most value to us, the parties that seek to interconnect. Exchanges that operate in multiple markets should be able to represent all of those markets, regardless of competitive concerns. Finally, the sponsors, who have just as much right to be there as the hosts, must have an equal footing to determine the best path forward for the organization. While not part of the original core mission of Open-IX, we must transition GPF from a “customer event” to a community event.
We feel that the current format; a limited number of representatives from each organization with a focus on those who enable interconnection, is sound. We do not want this to become a salesfocused conference. We also want to shed the “boondoggle” moniker that has plagued the last few meetings. GPF has historically been extremely valuable, and Open-IX would like to help keep it that way. We hope to pivot the GPF to become an inclusive conference at a suitable, accessible location that’s productive, informative, and fun. While we would prefer to work with the current organizers to reimagine GPF, we’re also taking the first steps towards planning our own Open-IX member event to accomplish these goals. We’ve entered a new chapter for interconnection in North America and Open-IX is up to the challenge to enable it.
Dave Temkin, for the Open-IX Board of Directors
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About Open-IX
The Open-IX Association (OIX) is an Internet community derived effort to improve the landscape of Internet peering and interconnect in the United States. OIX encourages the development of neutral and distributed Internet exchanges in North America while promoting uniform, cost-efficient standards of performance for interconnections backed by the Internet community. The association aims to promote common and uniform specifications for data transfer and physical connectivity and improve IX performance by developing criteria and methods of measurement to reduce the complexity that restricts interconnection in fragmented markets. The OIX Board is comprised of volunteer representatives from the Internet community in the United States, including Paul L. Andersen; Donald S. Clark; Dan Golding; Martin Hannigan; Keith Mitchell; David Temkin; and Barry Tishgart.