There are 5 internet exchange points (IXPs) located in 5 different countries in the Middle East, with the oldest starting in 2007 in Beirut, Lebanon and the newest in 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. Collectively, the IXPs see 115 Gbps of traffic. Most IXPs are governed by industry associations and have contractual relationships with networks, charging monthly port fees.

1. Internet Exchange Points in the Middle East
14 countries in the Middle East
5 IXPs in 5 countries
Oldest IXP: 2007 (Beirut IX)
Newest IXP: 2016 (DE-CIX Istanbul)
Aggregate IXP Traffic: 115 Gbps

2. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Growth in the Middle East

3. What type of organization governs the IXP?
40%
20%
20%
20%
Industry association
Private not-for-profit
company
Private for-profit
company
Government

4. Does the IXP have an informal or contractual
relationship with the networks that connect to it?
80%
20%
Contractual (networks
must sign a contract to
connect to the IXP)
Informal (networks do not
need to sign a contract to
connect to the IXP)

5. Does the IXP offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA)
to the networks that connect?
80%
20%
Yes
No

6. Does the IXP charge any fees?
80%
20%
Monthly port fees
Cost Sharing

7. Who owns the building the IXP resides in?
40%
20%
20%
20%
An academic institution
A network operator
Government
A carrier-neutral data-
center operator

8. Who controls physical access to the IXP room/facility?
60%
40% The IXP controls access to
its own room/facility
The building owner

9. Which of these features does the IXP facility have?
3
4
4
4
5
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Overhead cable trays
Biometric security (or equivalent)
Video surveillance
Fire suppression system
Air conditioning
Power backup

10. Are any of the following services available at the
exchange facility
2
3
4
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Cloud services (e.g. virtual machines, web
hosting)
Wholesale international transit
Commercial rack-space rental
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

11. What type of peering model is in place at the IXP?
80%
20% Multi-lateral (a route
server is available but
usage is not mandatory
and bi-lateral peering is
also allowed)
Layer 3 peering (networks
connect via OSI Layer 3 to
the IXP route server)

12. Does the IXP support remote peering?
60%
40%
Yes
No

13. What type of peering model is in place at the IXP?
1
1
3
3
3
5
0 1 2 3 4 5
Government
Banking / Financial
Mobile network operators (MNOs)
Academic / Research and Education
(REN)
Media or content providers
Internet service providers

14. Does the IXP publish traffic statistics?
80%
20%
Yes
No

15. Does the IXP publish separate IPv6 traffic statistics?
Yes
No

16. Does the IXP support private interconnects or VLANs
which carry traffic not included in the statistics above?
40%
60%
Yes
No

17. Does the IXP have and use assigned IP address
space?
20%
20%
20%
40%
Yes, it uses assigned IPv4
and IPv6 address space.
Yes, it uses assigned IPv4
address space (only).
No, it uses private address
space (RFC1918).
I don't know.

18. What is the IXP's Autonomous System Number
(ASN)?
60%
40%
Yes
No

19. Does the IXP have a dedicated transit link for
management and other services?
60%20%
20%
Yes, the IXP has its own
transit link.
No, the IXP does not have
a transit link.
I don't know.

20. Does the IXP have server hardware and does it host
services internally?
60%20%
20%
Yes, the IXP has server
hardware and hosts IXP
related services.
No, the IXP does not have
any server hardware.
I don't know.

21. Does the IXP have route servers?
40%
40%
20%
Yes, more than one route
server.
Yes, one route server.
No, the IXP does not have
any route servers.

22. What other value added services (VAS) are available
at the exchange?
1
1
1
2
3
0 1 2 3 4 5
No idea
Internal route collector
Out-of-band access (OOB)
NTP server
Looking Glass

23. What DNS services are available at the exchange?
1
1
2
4
0 1 2 3 4 5
No idea
gTLD server(s)
ccTLD server(s)
DNS root server(s)