Atlanta IX - History

History

The original Atlanta Internet Exchange was created in February 1997 by Bay Networks, Epoch Networks, Siemens Business Services, and GridNet. Then known as AIX, the peering point provided 10BaseT, T1 and DS3 connectivity. The AIX was located within the Atlanta POP of Epoch Networks. AIX never became a popular Internet Exchange Point, in part due to the high re-occurring costs of connecting to the switch. In March 2000, Michael Lucking, then an employee of Epoch Networks, now incarcerated for murder, decommissioned the equipment. In mid 2003, while meeting with a group of other peering coordinators in the Atlanta Area, Michael decided to resurrect the exchange. By August 2003, Michael had worked a deal with 56 Marietta Street Partners to provide space and power, WV Fiber (Now Host.net) to provide the first switch and cabling, and GreatAccess.com to provide domain hosting, and any costs for domain names and IP address registration fees. The new AtlantaIX operated at no expense to participants. In January 2007, Michael provided a second switch capable of supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections. The AtlantaIX then began charging a one time port fee to aid in paying back the costs of the recently upgraded switch infrastructure.