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February 24, 2003
Next steps for Utah Community Internet Exchange
Since launching the Regional Exchange Peering Forum earlier this month, I've had a number of opportunities to talk to regional exchange operators in other parts of the country. I talked with Chris Caputo, the third member of the Seattle IX (SIX) about his experience creating a now quite successful exchange. I have talked with Jere Retzner, who is involved with the NWAX in Portland. I have read and participated in a number of other discussions about regional peering.
I think there are some critical next steps CommIX must take to continue growing:
- identify buildings where most carriers, local, regional and national, interconnect, possibly in multiple parts of the state. Develop a partnership with (one of) the owners that will add value to the property by offering neutral exchange services. SIX and NWAX and I suspect other successful regional exchanges have been a huge benefit to the buildings they are located in, attracting high-margin customers to those buildings. I need to identify which building(s) in Utah are best to fit this role
- develop a (business) model around CommIX that will enable it to become self-sustaining some day. UEN could certainly subsidize CommIX forever, but part of what will make CommIX successful is having to develop a business model that makes it self-sustaining. This forces it to be a more serious venture. UEN may still have to subsidize it for some time, but there will be hope for a self-sustained future.
- shameless self-promotion. Make CommIX an integral part of every broadband network plan in the state. Aggressively lobby network operators who are building their networks now on the merits and benefits of CommIX. Same thing for other organizations that might be interested in and support CommIX.
- partner/affiliate. Find other groups and projects with similar objectives to associate with. REPforum is one, The Quilt Peering Project is another. There are probably more.
- develop the CommIX image. The Web site has to look better and work, and have good information on it. I've got to put some thought into this and find some resources to help with it. Similar for REPforum, though I have some help there already. I also need to engage the press, which is something I've missed out on all along (due to my own laziness).
There's a lot of work to do, but seeing what other regional exchanges are doing and have accomplished gives me hope and a lot of ideas. SIX and NWAX were not much different than CommIX, but have approached things differently than we have and as a result have achieved much more success. I think if we try some different things with CommIX and focus our efforts more efficiently, we will achieve much greater success.
Posted by pete at February 24, 2003 10:40 PM
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