DE-CIX, a leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator, has established and commissioned its sixth and southernmost 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 1, 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,” said Ed d’Agostino, Vice President 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.”
Via diverse connectivity to Dallas, the 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. Houston is also geographically close enough to Louisiana to serve low latency connectivity across the southern half of the state, helping to close a significant connectivity gap.
DE-CIX Houston establishes a new interconnection corridor in the south of the US, providing seamless interconnectivity between Houston and Dallas and enabling local networks to access regional and international networks in Dallas in low latency. Further, DE-CIX Houston has the potential to also establish a new gateway to and from Mexico.
“Our partnership with DE-CIX marks a pivotal step in delivering best-in-class interconnection services for our customers in Houston,” said Raul K. Martynek, CEO, DataBank. “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.”
