Introduction
The Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX) was originally established in April 1997 as a private interconnection between two ISP's in Seattle's Westin building, whose traffic was traveling from Seattle to Texas and back just to cross from one side of the floor to the other. In June 1997 other ISP's became interested in interconnecting, so Ethernet hubs were installed in two locations in the building, and the SIX was formed. Networks began to participate in the SIX due to the low/no cost involved, and it began to grow.
Faced with a growing number of participants and a rather ad hoc arrangement of hubs and cable termination points, early members of the exchange petitioned the building for a neutral space. The building management obliged and allocated space for the SIX adjacent to the building's T1/T3 (and later fiber) meet-me rooms. This provides the SIX with a neutral, provider independent home.
The SIX does not charge fees and is run entirely by volunteers. Donations make this all possible.
There are no requirements of participants, other than they follow the rules of the exchange. There are no peering requirements, although peering with other members is encouraged and is basically the point of connecting to the exchange.
For information about joining the SIX, click here.
Information on other exchange points can be found here.
Major Milestones:
April 1997: IXA and Wolfe form interconnect.
June 1997: Hub added and third participant connects.
November 1997: Renumbered into Bill Manning / EP.NET IP address space.
January 1998: Petition letter given to Westin Building management requesting neutral space.
May 1998: First "national" network, AboveNet, joined the exchange.
June 1998: Replaced 10 megabit hub with a Cisco 1900 XL 10/100 switch.
July 1998: Moved out of IXA suite and into the current SIX space.
February 1999: Microsoft joined the SIX which acted as a considerable catalyst for growth.
May 2001: Incorporated as a non-profit.
September 2001: Cisco 4912G installed. First gigabit ports became available.
December 2001: PAIX / SIX interconnect turned up.
September 2006: First 10 gigabit participant.
May 2007: Cisco 6509 installed as the core switch.
July 2007: Aggregate traffic surpassed 10 Gbps.