Internet exchange point (IXP)
Internet Exchange Points (IXP) are Internet nodes, i.e. the exchanges on the Internet. They are used by national or regional Internet service providers(ISPs) to connect their networks directly to the Internet exchange points (IXPs) and thus to the Internet backbones. There are approximately 60 Internet nodes in Europe.
The Internet Exchange Points have an international character. In Germany, there is the German Commercial Internet Exchange( DE-CIX) in Frankfurt, which stands for German Commercial Internet Exchange, the Berlin Commercial Internet Exchange (BCIX) and the European Commercial Internet Exchange (ECIX) in Düsseldorf. DE-CIX is one of the largest European Internet Exchange Points. The Internet Exchange Points consist of high- performance switches to which IP providers can connect with terabit routers.
In addition to the international nodes, there are smaller regional IXPs in many cities and some regions of Germany. The advantage of the Internet Exchange Points is that the ISPs can connect their networks directly to the Internet backbone and there is no additional network provider in between. This has cost advantages for the ISPs and also offers better latency times, higher bandwidths and greater reliability. There are peering agreements or other agreements between the ISPs and the backbone operators in which the costs for the traffic are regulated.