New research has claimed that the shift towards carrier-neutral Internet Exchanges (IX) is revolutionizing data center connectivity, providing geographic diversity, redundancy and flexibility to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence, services in the cloud and data-intensive applications.
Over the past decade, there has been a 600% growth in IX deployment in the US, according to a recent study by Dstream Group, conducted on behalf of DE-CIX, which found that 80% of all IX exchanges US Internet (IX) are now data center and carrier neutral.
Of the 50 largest IXs in the US, 35 (70%) are neutral, according to the report, indicating a strong preference for this model among network operators. By being distributed across multiple carriers and locations within a metropolitan area, neutral IXs help businesses avoid vendor lock-in and provide the opportunity for redundant connections. This redundancy is essential for resilience.
Why adopt neutral IXs instead of traditional models?
The study notes that the data center and operator model is now proving to be more resilient and adaptable to modern connectivity needs.
In today's digital world, the demand for robust, flexible and resilient digital infrastructure is growing rapidly. With the rise of cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), organizations require faster, more reliable connections to meet the expectations of modern digital services.
Low latency, high-performance interconnection, and network resilience have become essential to powering everything from real-time data analysis to online gaming and high-resolution video streaming. In response, data centers and Internet Exchanges (IX) are evolving to meet these demands.
Unlike IXs operated by single carriers or data center operators, neutral IXs are spread across multiple data centers and managed by independent specialists, allowing them to offer more access points, improve network density and reduce latency.
Because they can connect to multiple data centers, they offer up to four times more facility connections than traditional models and also offer geographic diversity, which is a key factor in ensuring resilient connectivity.
Additionally, neutral IXs are fostering collaboration within digital ecosystems by connecting a wide range of data centers and networks, thereby promoting competition and innovation while offering businesses more options. Rather than fragmenting the market, the introduction of additional neutral IXs often improves growth, leading to a more robust and interconnected ecosystem.
Demand for data center capacity in the US is at an all-time high, driven by the explosion of artificial intelligence, cloud services and other data-intensive applications. The United States currently has 11,200 MW of installed data center capacity, with an additional 5,500 MW under construction and 12,600 MW in planning. This indicates potential growth of 160% in the near future.
Primary markets such as Northern Virginia and Dallas/Fort Worth are leading the way in data center construction. However, secondary and tertiary markets such as Las Vegas, Reno and Columbus are also emerging as important players in the data center ecosystem. These regions offer lower costs, tax incentives, and wide availability of space and power, making them attractive for future data center development.
As traditional data centers like New York and Los Angeles face space and power-related constraints, secondary and tertiary markets are experiencing growth.
Regions such as Phoenix, Dallas/Fort Worth and Chicago are emerging as strong competitors, with smaller markets such as Las Vegas and Reno gaining ground due to favorable conditions for data center construction. These secondary markets are well positioned to support the next wave of growth in the data center industry.
“The last decade has demonstrated the immense value of the neutral and distributed model in driving digital growth in the US market,” said Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX.
“The study shows that these IXs, which follow the European model of neutrality, are not only future-proofed, but are essential to support the emerging needs of cloud computing, AI and IoT to enable connectivity of Extremely low latency for current and future critical uses. cases.”
