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Led by Berkman Fellow Andrew McLaughlin, the IXPs Initiative is a project to support the organization and deployment of neutral, nonprofit Internet exchange points (IXPs) in developing countries.

Think of an Internet exchange point as nothing more than a room with a switch, into which a number of Internet service providers (ISPs) plug their cables. ISPs use the shared switch to interconnect with each other directly, so that their customers' Internet traffic can be sent to the destination ISP via a peering arrangement. Internet exchange points enable domestic-bound Internet traffic to be routed locally, without having to traverse the slower and more expensive international satellite circuits on which nearly every developing country ISP must depend.

Currently, nearly all of the world's poorest countries lack these low-cost but essential facilities. Notable exceptions include the Kenyan Internet Exchange Point (KIXP) and the Mozambique Internet Exchange (MOZ-IX).

Through research, documentation, in-country workshops, and the counseling of governments and regulators, the Interconnection project seeks to catalyze and accelerate the deployment of IXPs in developing countries. As part of the Berkman Center's Open Economies initiative, the Interconnection project also addresses a range of related issues, such as the rules and regulations governing ISP liability, voice-over-IP applications, fiber connectivity, and the allocation and management of spectrum for wireless networking.

We invite shortly unveil the IXPs Project website.