Representatives from the IXPs Catnix, Espanix, Lyonix, MIX, Namex and Topix have met today in Barcelona to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of collaborating in enhancing Internet growth in Southern Europe.

Representatives from the IXPs Catnix, Espanix, Lyonix, MIX, Namex and Topix have met today in Barcelona to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of collaborating in enhancing Internet growth in Southern Europe. The signed MoU creates the SEIXP (South European Internet Exchange Points) group whose objective will be to reduce the gap with Northern Europe in terms of exchanged internet traffic in IXPs involved. Their main area of interest will be Southern Europe and also the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions as targets to develop Internet traffic. According to general objectives, its members will develop group activities to foster Internet growth in the areas of interest. First activity will be the issue of a newsletter as a tool to support discussion and cooperation on different technical and business topics, and to create market awareness. The group has also agreed to organize events as a way to create a social networking between IXPs members and enhance cooperation. The group will be managed by a Steering Committee made up of a representative of each IXP member.

About CATNIX CATNIX with its 20 members is the neutral Internet exchange point in Catalonia. After several years of consolidation, CATNIX is now undergoing new and important strategic development, such as increasing its range of value-added services and resources to provide their members with the best facilities for their business, which will definitively put it on the map of similar European infrastructures.

About ESPANIX Espanix is a leading IXP in the southern european region. With some 50 members, more than 120 Gbps of traffic at peak time and top tier facilities it offers an outstanding opportunity for telecom related companies seeking to expand or improve their business. About LYONIX With over 20 members connected on Lyonix, Lyon is the only city with and IX in France outside Paris. REZOPOLE, the non profit organization managing Lyonix is now expanding to other cities in the Region Rhone-Alpes such as Saint-Etienne. Lyonix is already interconnected to TOPIX in Torino (Italy) and will soon have operations in Geneva (Switzerland).

AboutMIX MIX is the leading IXP in Italy, providing interconnection andpeering services to 70 ISPs and about 30 Carriers, both Italian andforeigner. MIX is strategically placed in the North-West part ofMilan, inside a Campus where the majority of ISPs, carriers andtelecommunication operators PoPs reside, such providing an “easy toreach” and cheap interconnection site in its own and fullyinternally managed data center.

About NaMex NaMeX, founded in 1996,is a member-based IXP located in Roma, Italy, that counts 30 membersand 10 Gbps daily peak traffic. It is hosted in a Tier III,carrier-grade datacenter, that boasts the highest concentration ofISPs in Southern Italy and offers to his members several servicessuch as Public & Private peering and Carrier Meet Me Roominterconnections.

About TOP-IX (TOrino Piemonte Internet eXchange)TOP-IX is a non-profit consortium that counts 60+ members. Set up in2002, its aim is to create and manage a distributed IX in North Westof Italy. Furthermore, TOP-IX is fully committed to promoteinnovation in the Internet sector and to foster new business creationby providing, through its Development Program, “infinitebandwidth”, computing power and a free trial period to internetventures in the seed phase (100+ projects supported in three years). TOP-IX objectives are integrated with WI-PIE program guidelines promoted and supported by the Piedmont Regional Administration.