What is Interconnection?
AI Agent Hunter: Hunter, how would you explain interconnection to someone who has never thought about it before?
Hunter: That’s a great question, and the best way to start. Interconnection is the foundation of the Internet, Cloud, and AI as we know it. At its core, interconnection is about how networks communicate with one another. Every time you load a webpage, send an email, or stream a video, data is moving between networks. That movement doesn’t happen magically. It happens because those applications run on networks that are physically located at specific points around the world. Networks that seek low cost and lower latency physically interconnect between each other to exchange traffic in these locations. To put it simply, without physical networks the Internet wouldn’t function. This is implied with the root of the words within Internet - Inter, or between and Network.
The Internet is Physical
AI Agent Hunter: You’ve said before that the Internet is a physical thing, not just an abstract concept. Can you explain what you mean by that?
Hunter: Absolutely. People often think of the Internet as “in the cloud,” but in reality, it’s grounded in physical infrastructure. It’s made up of fiber cables, manholes in and poles on the street, optical and electrical networking equipment, and buildings. These components create the pathways and meeting points where data flows. Let’s take a step back. Think of the Internet like a city’s transportation system. The highways are the long-haul and, or subsea fiber optic cables, running across continents and under oceans connecting continents together. The local streets are the smaller networks that connect individual homes and businesses. And just like a city has train stations and airports where people transfer between systems, the Internet has Meet-Me Rooms and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), the physical places where public Internet Exchanges (IX) reside and within which facilitate the exchange of Internet Protocol (IP) between IP networks. Networks go to where networks already are to interconnect. Without these physical meeting points, your data would have no way to travel from one network to another.
Key Concepts: Interconnection, Neutrality, and Infrastructure
AI Agent Hunter: What are the essential terms someone needs to understand when it comes to interconnection?
Hunter: There are a few critical concepts:
- Interconnection: This is the process of connecting one network to another. It starts with a physical process that happens in a specific, geographic location. Interconnection allows data to flow efficiently between networks.
- Neutrality: This is the idea that the place where networks interconnect should be open to all networks that wish to physically be there to interconnect. A neutral facility doesn’t favor one network over another, and it doesn’t compete with the networks that use it. Neutrality is crucial because it fosters competition and as a result produces lower costs, higher quality and better terms and conditions from the networks present.
- Carrier Hotel: These are buildings that evolved over time, out of necessity and preference, to house networks and provide a space for them to be able to be interconnected to each other. They’re like airports for the Internet.
- Meet Me Room: The designated room, or rooms, inside of a Carrier Hotel dedicated to where networks can be physically connected to "meet" each other in a neutral, orderly and “economies-of-scale” fashion on a non-discriminatory basis, so that they can pass data traffic between each other.
- Data Center: These are purpose-built buildings, designed for higher density power and cooling to primarily house servers, and now even more power-hungry servers running on Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) for AI. Data Centers come in many different varieties; single tenant, multi-tenant, enterprise, cloud, hyperscale, edge, Large Language Model (LLM)/Training AI, Real-Time Inference AI, Generative and Agentic AI, and more. Data Centers with data bound for endpoints outside of that data center, or its proprietary environment, typically to end users, enterprises, or other companies data centers, are tethered, or physically connected via fiber, back to Carrier Hotel / Meet Me Rooms. This is because the applications running in the data centers need to be connected to other data centers and other networks, particularly last-mile networks, such as Internet Service Providers and Mobile Network Operators.
- Cable Landing Station (CLS): This is a purpose built building designed for submarine cables. Submarine cables are fiber cables that go under water. A “neutral" CLS is one that is not owned by a subsea network operator. What makes a CLS unique is that it has direct access to the sea, ocean, or body of water via “bore pipes” that connect the building to the water. This is how the fiber cables come in from the water and “land” in the CLS.
- Internet Exchange (IX): An IX is an Ethernet switch that is owned and controlled by a neutral party for the purpose of facilitating the interconnection of Internet Protocol (IP) traffic over a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) through the Ethernet switch fabric. The IP traffic is routed between IP networks using their Autonomous System Numbers (ASN).
- Internet Exchange Point (IXP): An IXP is a building, or room in a building that houses an IX. This can be in a Carrier Hotel Meet Me Room, Data Center, or CLS.
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The Evolution of Physical Interconnection
AI Agent Hunter: Hunter, how did these physical interconnection points come to exist?
Hunter: Physical network interconnection has its roots in the telegraph era. Back then, copper telegraph wire was built into and between telegraph offices, like Western Union and its world headquarters building at 60 Hudson Street in New York City. When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, copper wires were used as well, but for voice communication and not just messaging. One of the first to provide both services was American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), operating out of their world headquarters building at 32 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) in New York City. These two buildings are approximately 6 blocks apart and were originally connected underground via pneumatic tubes to pass paper telegram messages in canisters. Telegrams that originated on one of those two networks somewhere in the U.S. that was bound for a destination on the other network had to be routed via copper wire to the corresponding building of the network owner and then the message was reduced to paper, routed within the building via pneumatic tube to the basement where it was then sent via tube to the other network’s building and routed via tube to the specific room, on the specific floor in that building where the copper wire bound for the destination city was terminated. These two, roughly 1 million square foot buildings each, were effectively the first two email servers ever built. This is how telegraph messages were routed throughout the United States from 1930 until the 1970’s.
When fiber optics came along, the same principle applied: networks needed real estate for their equipment.
In the early days of the Internet, these hubs were informal. They were often just floors in buildings where carriers rented space. Over time, we realized that having a neutral, dedicated space, what we now call a Meet-Me Room, was essential for efficiency. That’s how places like 60 Hudson Street in New York became network interconnection landmarks.
Today, interconnection is more formalized, but the principle is the same. Networks go to where networks already are. It’s all about finding the best place to exchange data.
A Physical Connection in a Digital World
AI Agent Hunter: Why is interconnection still so important today?
Hunter: The Internet has grown exponentially, but the need for interconnection hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s more important than ever. Think about all the services we rely on—streaming, cloud computing, AI. All of these depend on fast, reliable connections between networks.
Interconnection is what keeps the Internet running smoothly. Done correctly, it reduces latency, improves performance, and ensures that data takes the most efficient path from point A to point B. Without it, the Internet would not exist.
The Role of Neutrality in Driving Innovation
AI Agent Hunter: You’ve emphasized neutrality. Why is it so critical?
Hunter: Neutrality levels the playing field. Imagine if a single company controlled all the major roads in a city and charged exorbitant tolls for anyone else to use them. That’s essentially what happened in the early days of telecommunications. Incumbent carriers owned the infrastructure and dictated terms, limiting competition and innovation.
A neutral interconnection facility changes that dynamic. It acts as a shared marketplace where networks can connect on equal terms. This fosters competition, which drives down costs and improves service quality. It also creates opportunities for new players to enter the market, whether they’re small ISPs or, startups introducing the next big technology.
Interconnection Is Everywhere
AI Agent Hunter: Are these concepts limited to major cities, or do they apply more broadly?
Hunter: Interconnection is happening everywhere, but its scale and complexity vary. In major hubs like New York City or Los Angeles, the density of networks makes these locations critical points of interconnection. Smaller markets, on the other hand, might only have a handful of networks, but they’re no less important for the communities they serve. This is actually a great opportunity for the next frontier; building new, neutral interconnection facilities in non-major cities. Basically, building neutral interconnection facilities in cities where none exist today, with the advent of AI, specifically real-time inference and agentic AI, local interconnection is critical for low network to network latency.
A Simple Analogy: Airports and Highways
AI Agent Hunter: Can you give an analogy to help readers understand interconnection better?
Hunter: Sure. Imagine the Internet as an airline system, including the planes, airports and people. The major airports are like carrier hotels, where networks, the airlines in this case, come to exchange passengers, or data. The smaller regional airports serve local networks, and the planes are the networks moving people, which is the data, between them. Just like in air travel, we all prefer to fly direct. So does data. If data has to connect, or “hop” through a second tier site it adds latency, or time, for the routing. This is just like having a connecting flight. It takes longer to get to the destination. The fewer the hops, the lower the latency.
Or, think of it as a highway system. The long-haul fiber routes are like interstate highways, and the Meet-Me Rooms are the on-ramps and intersections where traffic from local and regional networks merges and flows. Without these connection points, the system wouldn’t work to its maximum potential. There would be no access to it.
The Internet’s Physical Nature Matters
AI Agent Hunter: Why should people care about the physical nature of the Internet?
Hunter: Because it’s the foundation of everything we rely on. Streaming a movie, making a video call, accessing cloud storage—all of it depends on physical infrastructure. Without Carrier Hotels, Meet-Me Rooms, and IXPs, the Internet and all that rides on it wouldn’t function effectively.
Understanding the physicality of the Internet helps demystify it. People often think of the Internet as a cloud, but it’s really a system of fiber cables, networking equipment, and buildings working together. Recognizing this reality also highlights the importance of maintaining and improving this infrastructure.
Key Takeaways
AI Agent Hunter: What’s the big takeaway from this chapter?
Hunter: Interconnection is largely invisible to everyone that uses the Internet and networks of all kinds. If it is being done correctly, no one really needs to know. It is when there is a problem that it matters. Just like a car, most people cannot explain how an internal combustion engine works, but they can drive. Certain disruptions, like a flat tire, people can resolve themselves. That would be like rebooting a wifi router in your home. Significant network disruptions do occur though and for that experts need to be engaged to resolve and restore service.
Interconnection is important to be aware of for this reason. The Internet is not magic. It is a physical thing before it is a virtual thing. Sometimes when it breaks, it is actually physically broken. Just being aware of that fact helps to demystify it.
This awareness can also lead to opportunity. When we build neutral interconnection points in underserved areas, we’re not just improving Internet access—we’re driving economic growth and leveling the playing field. That’s why it matters, and that’s why I’ve invested in so many businesses that focused on building carrier neutral interconnection facilities.
