The Windy City Gets an AMS-IX

October 7th, 2014 by · 4 Comments

Following quickly on its expansion to California, AMS-IX has moved into another new market. The Amsterdam-based internet exchange provider now has its first node in the Windy City of Chicago.

cermakThey’ve partnered with CME Group over in the financial vertical to open their first Chicago PoP. It’s at 350 E. Cermak of course, the hub which dominates the city’s interconnection market. AMS-IX is working on an additional PoP in the region already, to go live early next year.  It’s a pretty long road yet to critical mass, of course, but Chicago’s interconnection market can certainly use the variety.

This is the third prong of AMS-IX’s entry into the US interconnection market, which began in New York. The opportunity for European-style interconnection exchanges to invade the US was largely prompted by the Open-IX initiative. AMS-IX has some competition in New York from DE-CIX as well as established providers, but in San Francisco and Chicago the field is a bit more clear.

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Categories: Datacenter · Internet Traffic

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4 Comments So Far


  • mhammett says:

    Very odd location partner. There’s no one but finance guys there from what I know. I do suspect they’ll expand into Equinix 350 and TelX 350, but what other facilities are worth it? I know there are many many more, but…

  • Anonymous says:

    there will be a new truly neutral Carrier Hotel Meet Me Room coming online shortly, that will feature no monthly recurring cross connect charges

    • mhammett says:

      Those are some big britches to fill. Not only do you have to make the service available, but people you actually want have to be present. Anything useful in Chicago will have to have a presence at Equinix – 350 Cermak.

      There may be an oasis somewhere else, but when you want to go to connect to someone, they respond, “Yeah, I’m in Equinix.” Eventually, I see more networks adopting non-Equinix-Cermak POPs, but for now… any exchange that wants to be taken seriously has to be in Equinix 350 Cermak.

  • mhammett says:

    Just ask Chicago-IX, Coresite Any2 and some others how successful it is not being in Equinix Cermak.

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