Boston’s Hub Express System (HEX) was built by TOWARDEX as a decentralised interconnection point running through the city’s manhole infrastructure. Unlike a carrier hotel, HEX allows participants to connect fibres across the city without being bound to a single site and without monthly cross-connect fees. The link to DE-CIX New York, the Northeast’s largest internet exchange, extends DE-CIX’s Carrier Turnkey Connectivity programme to New England for the first time.
Through the programme, carriers, data centres, and internet service providers in Boston can access the DE-CIX New York fabric and from there reach DE-CIX exchanges in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Richmond, as well as its international exchange points in Mexico, Brazil, and Europe. Network operators not directly connected to HEX can reach it through dark fibre and Ethernet services from several providers, bypassing colocation and cross-connect costs entirely.
Gavin Schoch of TWDX Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary of TOWARDEX, described the connection as a structural shift for regional networking. “Bringing the Hub Express System to DE-CIX is a huge deal for both New England and the Northeast. This is the first time that a major Tier 1 IX has been made available at a large-scale manhole system to enable network interconnections. Instead of forcing networks to backhaul traffic to rigid, centralized, and outdated carrier hotels, we are making the world’s largest Internet Exchange operator directly available in Boston’s streets. This Carrier Turnkey Connectivity partnership allows carriers to sell access to the DE-CIX ecosystem without colocation cross-connect costs being passed on to their customers, reducing sales friction and enhancing the value of their fiber assets in the Boston area.”
Ed d’Agostino, Vice President of DE-CIX North America, said the partnership extends the reach of the New York exchange into a region where latency and cost have historically limited interconnection options. “We are honored to have been invited to participate in the HEX ecosystem and to welcome TOWARDEX, with its open-access manhole infrastructure, to the DE-CIX New York ecosystem. For networks in Boston, New York represents the lowest latency location to reach clouds, content, and networks not available locally.”
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