Dublin's IXP is called the Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX). A similar IXP operates as the Cork Neutral Internet eXchange (CNIX) in the city of Cork. Both are industry-owned associations.
INEX currently has 77 members with 53Gbps of peak traffic spread across 3 POPs. Its members use a variety of different equipment vendors – Cisco, Brocade and FastIron. There is a notable, and possibly unique, peering matrix published on INEX's website that shows the peering links of each member. https://www.inex.ie/ixp/peering-matrix
Established by four ISPs in 1996, INEX was volunteer-run until 2004 when it employed a general manager. That year the Irish Government's Industrial Development Agency (IDA) provided a loan facility to the exchange in order to fund capital expansion and marketing. The investment also provided the means to expand the exchange to a second site and employ a second staff person to handle marketing and membership development. The second site went live in March 2005 with two resiliently-configured Cisco 6500s that are connected with a dark fibre ring.
An 'Associate Membership' category was announced in 2005 to address the needs of organisations that do not have IP traffic to peer at the exchange but want to join the community that INEX represents – Internet-related services, including fibre wholesalers, co-location and hosting facilities, related technology suppliers and public service organisations. Associate members benefit from being part of this community by receiving free access to INEX member meetings, invitations to key industry events arranged by the association, and access to various INEX mailing lists.
Further technical developments in late 2005 led to the implementation of multicast at the exchange, aimed to provide an opportunity for the broadcast community to use the Internet as a delivery platform.
Currently in testing phase, INEX is hosting a trial VoIP exchange LAN to enable VoIP operators to exchange IP traffic over a network protected from the rest of the Internet.
INEX has also developed an IXP management software suite called IXP Manager; it is a web application with associated scripts and utilities that allow IXPs to manage customers, provision new connections and services, and monitor traffic usage. It also has a customer portal that allows IXP members to view their IXP traffic statistics, and peer-to-peer traffic. The portal also contains many other tools such as My Peering Manager and the Route Server Prefix Analysis Tool. Auto-provisioning features include configurations for route collectors, route servers, AS112 services, and reverse DNS. INEX is keen to encourage other IXPs to use its open-source software, and is willing to assist with installations in order to build better documentation.
INEX's routing policy includes provisions that require each member to register in advance in the RIPE routing registry or another public routing registry, with all routes to be announced through any peerings at INEX. In addition, if a member advertises any routes to another member, it must also advertise these routes to the INEX route collector and each member must maintain a peering relationship with at least 4 other members or 10% of other members, depending on which is the greater number.
