Internet Exchanges and the Speed of the Deep South
An Internet Exchange (IX) is essentially a meeting place for networks. Rather than routing traffic through a third-party transit provider for a fee, networks that join an IX can interconnect directly and exchange traffic freely. This model is more cost-effective for high-volume networks than paying for transit, and it's more flexible than setting up a private network interconnection (PNI), which requires a dedicated fiber link between two specific networks. A thriving IX community benefits everyone: lower costs attract more participants, and better interconnection means faster, more efficient Internet.
Cloudflare participates in 279 exchanges globally. A notable example is the Montgomery Internet Exchange (MGMix), a small but impactful IX in Alabama that has measurably improved regional connectivity.
Why Alabama Needed an IX
Parts of the Deep South have historically lagged the rest of the country in Internet performance. According to the latest FCC data, 15% of locations in Alabama lack home Internet access with download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps. In Mississippi, that figure is 20%, compared to a 7% national average. Latency to major content delivery networks in the region is also elevated, often because traffic must travel to hubs like Atlanta or Dallas and back before reaching the end user. An IX in Montgomery changes that dynamic by enabling local traffic exchange, which shortens network paths and reduces latency.
The Long Road to Launch
MGMix launched in 2016 with support from the city's mayor, staff, and a cooperative involving local government and a nearby Air Force base. A year later, a technical committee was formed, and the exchange was upgraded to 100 Gbps of capacity. Initial operating costs were estimated at $1,000 per month for data center space and connectivity, thanks to a donated switch from Packet Clearing House.
An IX is technically simple—a Layer 2 switch where connected networks advertise their presence. The hard part is attracting participants. IXs face a chicken-and-egg problem: a single network has no reason to join, but once many networks are present, the exchange becomes easy to sell. Cloudflare, for instance, requires the presence of transit networks to reach content it doesn't host directly, so building that critical mass is essential. The City of Montgomery took on that challenge network by network.
MGMix now counts a diverse set of members: ISPs like Charter, Wide Open West, Uniti Fiber, and Troy Cablevision; institutions such as the State of Alabama, Alabama State University, and the City of Montgomery; and content and service providers, including Cloudflare, Meta, and Akamai.
“This is a step forward to achieving digital equity across the region, benefiting individuals who live in underserved rural communities. By extending our network fabric to a datacenter in Auburn, the MGMix will improve the efficiency and resiliency of the Internet for the Montgomery area, colleges and businesses along the I-85 corridor, and the entire River Region.”
— Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed on the expansion to Auburn, Alabama
An Established Presence
Cloudflare joined MGMix soon after it opened, viewing participation as an easy way to improve Internet performance for historically underserved states. Once established, the exchange requires minimal upkeep—"set-it-and-forget-it" is an apt description.
Traffic through MGMix over November shows regular daily spikes in outbound data from Cloudflare to fellow members. The week of November 20–27 saw a notable drop in traffic, aligning with the US Thanksgiving holiday, suggesting users in Alabama took a break from their usual Internet activity. This pattern highlights that MGMix is functioning as intended: a fundamental piece of local interconnection infrastructure.
