March 13, 2006 – Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), Switch and Data, Terremark Worldwide, Inc. (AMEX:TWW), AMS-IX, DE-CIX and Force10 Networks today announced a unified effort to host biannual Global Peering Forums with the first event scheduled for March 18-23, 2006 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The forums are designed to bring together peering coordinators from North America, South America, Europe and Asia in a neutral environment to discuss interconnection of their autonomous networks. In addition, participants will hear in-depth presentations from industry experts on peering rollouts, policies, trends and general technical topics of interest to the peering coordinator community.
”We are delighted to be a participant in the 1st Global Peering Forum hosted by Equinix, Switch & Data, Terremark, AMS-IX, DE-CIX and Force10 Networks, “said Gary Baldus, vice president of operations for Limelight Networks, Inc. “Peering as part of how we manage a content delivery network for digital media is integral to facilitating a better experience for our customers and their global audiences. We are excited about this event!”
More than 140 peering experts are expected to attend the first forum in March, including:
- Josh Snowhorn - Peering Coordinator for Terremark Worldwide
- William B. Norton – Chief Technical Liaison for Equinix
- Christopher Quesada – Senior Engineer for Switch & Data
- Henk Steenman – CTO for AMS-IX
- Harald Summa – CEO for DE-CIX
- Barrett Lyon – CTO for Prolexic Technologies
The Global Peering Forums will give delegates an opportunity to talk about different peering policies and peering economic models as well as to meet the faces behind the corporate names. Participants at the March forum include peering coordinators from Sprint/Nextel, AT&T, China Telecom, Brasil Telecom, France Telecom, AOL, Yahoo!, Google, Limelight Networks, Microsoft, Telecom Italia, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and Akamai, among others.
Peering is defined as a way to exchange data between networks on a settlement free or partial settlement basis. Network providers such as AT&T, Sprint/Nextel and others own high-speed lines that make up the Internet. These providers transfer data between each other at locations called “peering” points or Internet Exchanges. At these sites, routers transfer messages between backbones using layer 2 switches or other dynamic interconnection systems. These systems are globally tied together by connecting high-capacity fiber optic lines owned by network service providers.
Attendance at the forum is by invitation only and limited to peering coordinators. Further information can be found at
www.peeringforum.com.