page_title: Metropolitan area network
section_title: Metropolitan internet exchange points
hierarchical_section_title: Metropolitan area network / Metropolitan internet exchange points
caption_attribution_description: English: Stealth Communications fiber crew installing new fiber-optic cable underneath Madison Avenue, in New York City.
context_page_description: A metropolitan area network is a computer network that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic region of the size of a metropolitan area. The term MAN is applied to the interconnection of local area networks in a city into a single larger network which may then also offer efficient connection to a wide area network. The term is also used to describe the interconnection of several local area networks in a metropolitan area through the use of point-to-point connections between them.
context_section_description: Internet exchange points (IXs) have historically been important for the connection of MANs to the national or global Internet. The Boston Metropolitan Exchange Point (Boston MXP) enabled metro Ethernet providers, such as the HarvardNet to exchange data with national carriers, such as the Sprint Corporation and AT&T. Exchange points also serve as low-latency link between campus area networks, thus the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Boston University could exchange data, voice and video using the Boston MXP. Further examples of metropolitan Internet Exchanges in the USA that were operational by 2002 include the Anchorage Metropolitan Access Point (AMAP), the Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX), the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Access Point (DFMAP) and the Denver Internet Exchange (IX-Denver). Verizon put into operation three regional metropolitan exchanges to interconnect MANs and give them access to the Internet. The MAE-West serves the MANs of San Jose, Los Angeles and California. The MAE-East interconnects the MANs of New York City, Washington, D.C., and Miami. While the MAE-Central interconnects the MANs of Dallas, Texas, and Illinois.
  In larger cities several local providers may have built a dark fibre MAN backbone. In London the metro Ethernet rings of several providers make up the London MAN infrastructure. Like other MANs, the London MAN primarily serves the needs of its urban customers, who typically need a high number of connections with low bandwidth, a fast transit to other MAN providers, as well as high bandwidth access to national and international long-haul providers. Within the MAN of larger cities, metropolitan exchange points now play a vital role. The London Internet Exchange (LINX) had by 2005 built up several exchange points across the Greater London region.
  Cities that host one of the international Internet Exchanges have become a preferred location for companies and data centres. The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) is the world second largest Internet Exchange and has attracted companies to Amsterdam that are dependent on high speed internet access. The Amsterdam metropolitan area network has benefited too from high speed Internet access. Similarly Frankfurt has become a magnet for data centres of international companies because it hosts the non-profit DE-CIX, the largest Internet Exchange in the world. DE-CIX has gone on to establish carrier neutral metropolitan Internet Exchanges in New York, Madrid, Dubai, Marseille, Dallas, Hamburg, Munich, Duesseldorf, Berlin, Istanbul, Palermo, Lisbon, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Moscow. The business model of the metro DE-CIX is to reduce the transit cost for local carriers by keeping data in the metropolitan area or region, while at the same time allowing long-haul low-latency peering globally with other major MANs.
caption: Stealth Fiber Crew installing a 432-count dark fibre cable underneath the streets of New York City.
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