About SFMIX, Arrr

What be SFMIX?

Th’ San Francisco Metropolitan Internet eXchange (SFMIX) be an Internet Exchange (IX) in th’ San Francisco Bay Area.

An Internet Exchange be a shared switching fabric where networks come together to trade traffic directly, rather than routin’ it through third-party transit providers. Each network connects a single cable to th’ exchange an’ can then reach every other connected network — no need to run a separate cable to each one. This replaces an expensive full mesh o’ point-to-point links with one efficient shared connection.

SFMIX connects its sites with an all-dark-fiber backbone around th’ Bay Area. Leasin’ direct access to th’ glass — rather than leasin’ wavelengths — means th’ exchange can scale for a very long time. Th’ backbone already carries 400GBASE-ZR coherent optics today, an’ as demand grows we simply light additional links on th’ same fiber span.

Because this backbone bridges multiple buildings, a single connection in any one facility gives ye access to networks in all o’ them. A port in San Jose can peer with a network in San Francisco as easily as one down th’ hall — th’ exchange fabric bridges th’ distance for ye.

Why Climb Aboard?

Lower latency — Traffic between mateys stays local instead o’ takin’ detours through upstream networks.

Lower cost — One port replaces many individual cross-connects an’ transit fees.

Better resilience — Direct paths mean fewer points o’ failure between ye an’ yer peers.

Real people — Yer critical traffic traverses local networks crewed by local people with real email addresses an’ phone numbers. When ye peer with yer neighbors, yer voice be heard.

Cool traceroutes — There’s somethin’ satisfyin’ about a traceroute that hops through buildings ye can point to on a map. Local peering makes th’ path yer traffic takes tangible an’ understandable.

Th’ more networks that climb aboard, th’ more valuable th’ exchange becomes — a cooperative example o’ Metcalfe’s Law.

Where to Climb Aboard?

SFMIX operates across multiple carrier-neutral locations in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Fremont, an’ San Jose. Additional ports o’ call be planned based on demand.

History

Founded in 2006 at 365 Main Street in San Francisco as a single-building IX. Th’ building sponsored rack space an’ power; th’ community provided everything else.

In 2013, SFMIX began expandin’ to additional Bay Area facilities, fueled by community contributions o’ equipment, volunteer time, an’ a shared passion for a better Internet.

Today SFMIX spans 9 locations with 1, 10, 100, an’ 400Gbps port speeds. SFMIX be an IRS 501(c)(12) cooperative — part o’ a community o’ member-owned exchanges includin’ SIX, NWAX, an’ MICE.

Meet th’ people behind SFMIX.

Pricing

Yearly crew dues (as o' 2023):

Dues may be waived, case by case, for non-profits givin in-kind services that benefit all mateys o th exchange alike (e.g., root DNS, ccTLD/gTLD, public measurement tools). Hail tech-c@sfmix.org to plead yer case for a waived due.

See th’ full boardin’ guide →