OHIO-IX Now Accepting Members For New Independent Internet Exchange In Columbus At Cologix's 555 Scherers Court Data Center

OHIO-IX Launch Establishes Columbus as Key Peering Hub for Midwest

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Mar 31, 2016, 08:15 ET

DENVER and COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cologix, a network-neutral interconnection and data center company, today announced that The Ohio Internet Exchange (OHIO-IX), a network-neutral, independent Internet Exchange based in Columbus, is now accepting members to connect at its core node in Cologix's COL2 data center at 555 Scherers Court. OHIO-IX is a non-profit, member-run Internet Exchange that was recently established to provide a regional Internet exchange to enable Internet traffic to be passed between members without having to backhaul traffic to exchange points in cities like Chicago or Washington, D.C., and then back to Columbus.

The OHIO-IX enables improved latency and performance at lower bandwidth costs by creating optimized network paths for content and application exchanging traffic on the exchange. Columbus is the 15^th largest city in the US by population and sits at the fiber cross roads of Ohio, making it a natural location to exchange IP traffic bound for its Internet users. Columbus, like other edge markets, is seeing experiencing the trend of disproportionate traffic growth as content and cloud traffic are delivered closer and closer to end consumers.

"A robust Internet exchange is an important ingredient to a vibrant and mature telecommunication market and Cologix has long believed that independent, open, member-run organizations provide the best model to build and sustain a healthy exchange," stated Graham Williams, Chief Operating Officer, Cologix. "Based on our experience with exchanges in Dallas (DE-CIX), Minneapolis (MICE), Montreal (QIX), Toronto (TORIX) and Vancouver (VANIX), we have every reason to believe that OHIO-IX will get off to a fast start and look forward to supporting members in joining the exchange."

"The OHIO-IX is an investment in the state's future as we expect individuals, private and public entities in Ohio and surrounding states to realize the benefits of participating in the exchange," stated Paul Schopis, Executive Director of OARnet. "Based on the results in similar markets with local exchanges, Ohio businesses will see their bandwidth costs decline for both Internet service and their own backbones as traffic is exchanged locally and consumers will notice improved performance for the content they consume over broadband networks."

"Our vision for OHIO-IX is that the exchange will be an economic development benefit for the state of Ohio and the entire region," stated Tim Berelsman, CEO of CNI-Independents Fiber Network and Interim President of OHIO-IX. "This community driven launch puts Ohio on a path to be a leader in broadband and technology, which will attract businesses, capital, and jobs to continue to help fuel economic development throughout the region."

Entities interested in becoming members of OHIO-IX are welcome to attend a meeting on Thursday, April 21^st. For more information on the event or for more information on the becoming a member, please contact [email protected].

About Cologix Inc.

Cologix provides reliable, secure, scalable data center and interconnection solutions from 24 prime interconnection locations across 9 strategic North American edge markets. Over 1,600 leading network, managed services, cloud, media, content, financial services and enterprise customers trust Cologix to support their business critical infrastructure and connect them to customers, vendors and partners. Our dedicated, experienced local teams and scalable solutions enable us to provide industry-leading customer service and the ability to successfully support customers at the Internet's new edge. For a tour of one of our data centers in Columbus, Dallas, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Minneapolis, Montreal, New Jersey, Toronto or Vancouver visit www.cologix.com or email [email protected]. Follow Cologix on LinkedIn and Twitter.