The Rheintal IX
The Rheintal Internet Exchange is a non-commercial internet exchange point in the Rhine Valley and four-country region (Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany and Switzerland). The Rheintal IX is operated by the Rheintal IX Association, which pursues the goal of providing a regional platform for the exchange of data traffic between Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The Rheintal IX receives support from numerous partners within the region.
Benefits for the region, economy and end customers
When ISPs peer with each other, data is exchanged directly without incurring costs on the links to upstream providers. Private peering is often complex, costly and rarely worthwhile if there is little traffic between the participants.
A public peering infrastructure, as provided by Rheintal IX free of charge, facilitates peering between providers without incurring ongoing costs for the participants. The cost of delivering Internet traffic is minimized for the participants and the availability and performance of services is increased.
For companies and end customers, the advantages of the Rheintal IX are reflected in short connection paths, low packet transit times and high data throughput between different Internet providers in the region. The data traffic processed via the Rheintal IX is not exchanged via large data exchange points abroad but directly via our infrastructure in the region, which is a clear advantage especially with regard to resilience and in the event of a disaster (e.g. failure of the connections to Frankfurt, Zurich or Vienna).
Rheintal region
Internet providers and companies in the Liechtenstein, Vorarlberg and Swiss Rhine Valley region have few options for exchanging Internet traffic directly with each other. Mostly, the only option is to arrange a “private peering” between providers or to transfer the traffic via leased lines to Zurich at and other metropolean-areas, which indirectly creates ongoing costs for the parties involved. Although larger internet exchange points are indispensable for regional providers, there is an additional need to be able to exchange traffic locally between providers in the region. Rheintal IX closes this gap with a public Internet Exchange Point.
Technology
Several locations are equipped with Layer 2 Ethernet switches and connected via sponsored dark fiber or Ethernet services. Initially, we will develop two locations where the infrastructure is available. The subscribers will be assigned an IPv4 and IPv6 address each from the address range allocated by RIPE NCC at Rheintal IX. Via these IP addresses, the participants establish a BGP session after negotiating a bilateral peering agreement in order to directly exchange traffic between their autonomous systems.
A Route Server in the Rheintal IX peering LAN is available to the participants to facilitate the exchange of routes and to support new participants.
Further information
Within the participants list you will find active and planned participants at Rheintal IX. The Connection Agreement regulates the interaction of all connected participants and ensures smooth operation.
If you are interested in IP Transit, point-to-point connections or co-location opportunities, please get in touch with our partners directly.
