For years, Internet Exchange Points have been one of the most visible success stories of the “bottom-up” Internet: neutral, community-based infrastructure capable of reducing interconnection costs, improving the performance of local networks, and fostering the growth of national and regional digital ecosystems. Today the context is changing rapidly, and a provocative question lurks in the background: have IXPs already lived their great future, or do they still have one ahead of them?
In recent months, several analyses from the international community, including the recent contribution by Flavio Luciani together with John Souter, have offered a particularly stimulating reading of the ongoing evolution in the interconnection ecosystem. Far from simplistic narratives about the “decline” of IXPs, these reflections reframe the role of Internet Exchange Points in light of the new transformations taking place across the Internet: greater traffic concentration, new interconnection models driven by large global platforms, and increasing complexity in connectivity value chains. The article also highlights how the major hyperscalers are assuming, by weight and bargaining power, a role not entirely unlike the one traditionally held by Tier-1 carriers: central actors in the ecosystem, but increasingly less interested in the dynamics of open public peering. In this scenario, IXPs do not lose centrality, but they are called upon to evolve their role, strengthening their position as neutral platforms in service of local communities, network resilience, and the diversification of interconnection ecosystems. This role becomes even more relevant when viewed through the lens of digital sovereignty: ensuring that local traffic stays local means reducing external dependencies, improving the performance and reliability of services, and contributing to greater autonomy for regional digital ecosystems.
And while the context transforms, Namex’s numbers continue to tell a story of growth. Peering traffic at our IXP is on the rise, and this dynamic is visible in our day-to-day experience: the growth is not limited to the main Rome node but is also evident at our regional nodes, including Bari, demonstrating that the demand for local and proximity-based interconnection remains strong and structural, at least within our ecosystem. It is a concrete signal that, for our community, the IXP remains a living infrastructure, central to network efficiency and to the quality of service experienced by end users.
Looking at what has happened in recent months at Namex, the signals clearly point in this direction. We organized the ANIX Meeting 2026, creating a forum for dialogue among Balkan and Mediterranean operators and helping to strengthen regional relationships and synergies. The Mediterranean, for Namex, continues to represent not only a natural network hub but a strategic area in which to build cooperation between technical communities that share similar challenges and opportunities.
Alongside the more strictly infrastructural dimension, we have also sought to cultivate the cultural and community dimension. With Namex Unplugged, we launched a new meeting and conversation format designed to broaden the perspective on the wider significance of digital evolution. The first event, featuring the presentation of Riccardo Luna’s book, showed how valuable it is for our community to create open spaces for dialogue, where technological, social, and cultural themes can intersect in an informal yet mindful way.
Part of this outward-looking journey is also Namex’s joining of the Internet Society (ISOC) as a Bronze Member: a step that reinforces our commitment to the multistakeholder vision of the Internet and to the promotion of an open, inclusive, and sustainable ecosystem in which interconnection infrastructure continues to play a fundamental role.
All of this is possible because Namex is, above all, a member-based and not-for-profit organization, and because this model is not merely an organizational choice but also a cultural and, in the broadest sense, political statement about the kind of Internet we want to help build. Member-based means that our more than 190 member organizations all carry the same weight: large operators and small ISPs sit at the same table and participate on an equal footing in decisions about the evolution of the shared infrastructure. Not-for-profit means that any operating surpluses are not extracted as returns, but reinvested entirely in Namex’s growth, in network upgrades, in community services, and in the development of new projects. In an ecosystem increasingly characterized by proprietary models, vertically integrated platforms, and concentrated control over digital infrastructure, the choice to maintain a neutral, open, community-oriented IXP represents an act of infrastructural pluralism: a concrete way of defending a more distributed, more resilient Internet, one more closely aligned with the needs of the territories and communities that inhabit it.
If an important part of the IXP story has already been written, the next chapter is still entirely to be built. It will be a chapter of new regional alliances, a growing role in the resilience of digital infrastructure, the capacity to adapt to a changing Internet, and above all, of communities that continue to recognize themselves in shared projects.
The “great future” of IXPs is not only behind us: it is a responsibility that lies ahead. And as Namex, together with our members, we intend to continue to be an active part of it.
— By Maurizio Goretti, Namex CEO
