The Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX) was originally established in April 1997 as a private interconnection between two ISP’s in Seattle’s Westin building, whose traffic was traveling from Seattle to Texas and back just to cross from one side of the floor to the other. Starting in June 1997 other ISP’s became interested in interconnecting, and the SIX became active June 20th, 1997. Networks began to participate in the SIX due to the low/no cost involved, and it began to grow.

Faced with a growing number of participants and a rather ad hoc arrangement of hubs/switches and cable termination points, early members of the exchange petitioned the building for a neutral space. The building management obliged and allocated space for the SIX adjacent to the building’s T1/T3 (and later fiber) meet-me rooms. This provided the SIX with a neutral, provider independent home.

The SIX offers 1GbE, 10GbE, 40GbE, 100GbE, and 400GbE port options. One-time port fees are detailed on our join page. The SIX does not charge recurring fees, but they are offered as a payment option.

There are no requirements of participants, other than they follow the rules of the exchange. There are no peering requirements, although peering with other members is encouraged and is basically the point of connecting to the exchange. We offer optional route servers.