San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange

What San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange does

San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange (SFMIX) operates a nonprofit, member-governed Internet Exchange Point in the San Francisco Bay Area, providing shared Layer 2 switching fabric and BGP route server infrastructure for multilateral peering among roughly 94-100 networks at 9 carrier-neutral data center locations across San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Fremont. Founded in 2006 at 365 Main Street and formally incorporated in 2015 as an IRS 501(c)(12) cooperative, SFMIX is operated entirely by community volunteers on a best-effort basis with no service-level commitments, supported instead by sponsor contributions of equipment, optics, and software from partners such as Arista Networks, flexOptix, VyOS Networks, Two P, and OpenColo.

The technical platform centers on a dark-fiber backbone using 400GBASE-ZR coherent optics that interconnects all 9 sites, allowing a single port at any facility to reach the full membership. Core services include dual redundant route server stacks (BIRD on Linux and OpenBGPD on OpenBSD, both RPKI-validated via Routinator and rpki-client), an Alice LG-based route browser, a public sFlow-driven Grafana statistics dashboard, an LLDP optical-power monitoring agent (LldpDomAgent) developed in-house, and a quarantine VLAN for safe pre-production testing. Infrastructure automation runs on NetBox and Ansible, and participants must maintain a PeeringDB record for max-prefix and IRR filtering.

Revenue comes exclusively from annual membership dues billed per port speed (1 Gbps at $995, 10 Gbps at $2,995, 100 Gbps at $7,495), with case-by-case waivers for non-profits providing shared infrastructure such as DNS roots and measurement tools. The customer base spans hyperscalers (Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix, Cloudflare), CDNs (Akamai, Fastly), cloud providers (DigitalOcean, Salesforce, OVHcloud, Linode), telecom and satellite operators (SpaceX Starlink, T-Mobile, Hurricane Electric), and public-infrastructure operators (Wikimedia, Internet Archive, VeriSign).

Name

San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange

Legal name

San Francisco Metropolitan Internet eXchange

Website

https://sfmix.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SFMIX is a nonprofit, member-governed cooperative Internet Exchange Point operating 9 Bay Area data center locations on a dark-fiber backbone, enabling roughly 100 networks to peer at 1, 10, 100, and 400 Gbps via annual membership dues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Internet Exchange / Network Interconnection

NAICS

Wired and Wireless Telecommunications Carriers (except Satellite) (51711)

SIC

Computer Communications Equipment (3576)

akta.pro primary industry

Network Backbone & Core IP Transport (Long-Haul/Metro IP) (HDAIAFAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Service Provider Core Routing (P/Backbone/MPLS) (HDAFABAD), Neutral-Host Fiber & Shared Access Network Operators (HDAIACAJ)

Keywords

• Internet exchange point
• Network peering services
• BGP route servers
• Carrier neutral interconnection
• Layer 2 switching fabric

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Others

Revenue model

1. Annual Membership Dues: Annual membership fees based on port speed (1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps). Billed annually per calendar year; no monthly option. USD only. Payment via ACH, wire, check, or credit card.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

SFMIX operates a nonprofit Internet Exchange Point in the San Francisco Bay Area, providing a shared Layer 2 switching fabric across 9 data center locations in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Fremont. The core service enables member networks to exchange BGP traffic via two redundant route server platforms (BIRD/Linux and OpenBGPD/OpenBSD), with port speeds of 1, 10, 100, and 400 Gbps available at all sites.

Product overview

SFMIX operates a nonprofit Internet Exchange in the San Francisco Bay Area, providing shared Layer 2 switching fabric across 9 locations in San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Fremont. The core offering is the peering fabric itself, supplemented by two redundant Route Server platforms (BIRD/Linux and OpenBGPD/OpenBSD) for multilateral BGP peering, a Looking Glass service with Alice LG for route visibility and diagnostics, and public Traffic Statistics dashboards powered by Grafana from sFlow data. Participants connect at 1, 10, 100, or 400 Gbps via single-mode fiber at carrier-neutral data center facilities. A quarantine VLAN enables safe configuration validation before production. The organization is an IRS 501(c)(12) cooperative governed by its members.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SFMIX Route Servers BGP route server platform enabling multilateral peering through a single BGP session, with two distinct redundant stacks (BIRD on Linux and OpenBGPD on OpenBSD). Servers aggregate and redistribute participant routes, allowing immediate peering without bilateral session negotiation. Includes RPKI validation, IRR filtering, and Large BGP Communities per Euro-IX standards.
• SFMIX Looking Glass BGP looking glass service providing visibility into route prefixes present at the exchange. Mandatory peering for all participants. Includes a quarantine VLAN parallel instance for safe configuration testing before production. Route information sourced from Alice LG open-source software.
• SFMIX Traffic Statistics Public Grafana dashboards displaying aggregate exchange throughput, peak traffic, and historical trends, plus a live traffic weathermap showing per-link utilization across the switching fabric. Data sourced from sFlow sampling of exchange traffic metadata.
• SFMIX Quarantine VLAN Isolated VLAN environment mirroring production addresses where new participants can safely test Ethernet, IP, and BGP configuration before being moved to the production peering VLAN.
• AS40271 IP Network SFMIX's own IP transit network (AS40271) providing connectivity and routing services for exchange participants. Infrastructure ASN is AS12276.
• SFMIX Route Browser (Alice LG) Web-based route browser interface at alice.sfmix.org providing unified access to both Looking Glass and Route Server routing information. Built on Alice LG open-source software (github.com/alice-lg/alice-lg).

Quantifiable outcome

• Peer with nearly 100 networks from a single port connection

Named customers23 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration15 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• BandwidthIGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 April 2024BandwidthIG announced SFMIX's first submarine cable segment partnership on April 17, 2024, enabling new submarine connectivity for the exchange.
• Hurricane ElectriccoreTechnology or IntegrationHurricane Electric is both a sponsor and a major participant at SFMIX. They host SFMIX infrastructure at their Fremont facility (FMT2) and provide 200 Gbps peering capacity.
• Digital RealtycoreTechnology or IntegrationDigital Realty hosts SFMIX at multiple San Francisco facilities (SFO01, SFO02) and Santa Clara (SCL05), providing neutral colocation for the exchange infrastructure.
• QTS Data CenterscoreTechnology or IntegrationQTS Data Centers hosts SFMIX at their Santa Clara facility (SJC2) and is a sponsor, providing infrastructure for the exchange.
• CoreSitecoreTechnology or IntegrationCoreSite hosts SFMIX at multiple facilities in Santa Clara (SCL02) and San Jose (SJC02), providing neutral colocation.
• EquinixcoreTechnology or IntegrationEquinix hosts SFMIX at their San Jose SV1 facility, one of the most connected IX locations in the Bay Area.
• Digital Realty MetroConnectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital Realty MetroConnect partnership provides Bay Area connectivity documentation and integration.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• London Internet Exchange (LINX): LINX is one of the world's largest neutral Internet Exchanges. SFMIX board member Lee Hetherington recently completed a 6-year term as Non-Executive Director at LINX, creating a direct leadership connection. LINX represents the global-scale, established member-governed IX against which SFMIX's community model is benchmarked.
• DE-CIX: DE-CIX is one of the world's largest carrier-neutral Internet Exchanges, operating major exchanges in Frankfurt, New York, Madrid, and other global markets. Comparable in operating model (neutral, multi-member exchange) but at vastly larger scale; sets industry standards (Euro-IX Large BGP Communities) that SFMIX implements.
• Netnod: Netnod operates Internet Exchanges and critical infrastructure across the Nordics and Europe, including IXes with strong community-governance characteristics similar to SFMIX. Both are nonprofit-leaning, technically sophisticated exchanges that emphasize route server quality and peering tooling.
• Equinix Internet Exchange: Equinix operates one of the world's largest commercial Internet Exchange fabrics across its global IBX data centers, including Equinix SV1 in San Jose where SFMIX is also present. Direct competitor for the same Bay Area peering traffic, though Equinix offers a much broader global footprint as part of its colocation platform.

Direct peers

• Seattle Internet Exchange (SIX): SIX is a nonprofit, member-governed Internet Exchange in the Pacific Northwest, explicitly named as part of the same community of member-owned exchanges as SFMIX, NWAX, and MICE. Direct peer in operating model, governance structure, and community ethos.
• Northwest Access Exchange (NWAX): NWAX is a nonprofit Internet Exchange in the Pacific Northwest and part of the same community of member-owned exchanges explicitly identified alongside SFMIX. Direct peer in cooperative nonprofit model, smaller regional IX with similar governance.
• Midwest Internet Cooperative Exchange (MICE): MICE is a nonprofit, member-run Internet Exchange serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul region. It is part of the same peer cooperative exchange community as SFMIX (alongside SIX and NWAX), with a nearly identical member-governed, community-operated model.
• CoreSite Open-IX: CoreSite (now an American Tower company) operates its own Any2 exchange fabric at multiple Bay Area facilities including SV4 and SV2 in Santa Clara/San Jose — directly co-located with SFMIX. Chris Malayter, SFMIX's Board President, is VP of Network and Interconnection at CoreSite, underscoring the close competitive and collaborative relationship.
• Hurricane Electric Internet Exchange: Hurricane Electric operates free Internet Exchanges at over 320 locations globally and is both SFMIX's largest single connection (200 Gbps at FMT2) and a major sponsor/host. SFMIX board member Walt Wollny is Director of Interconnection Strategy at Hurricane Electric, illustrating the deeply intertwined competitive and partner relationship.

Others

• Open-IX Association: Open-IX is the industry association that defines technical and operational standards for Internet Exchanges. SFMIX board president Chris Malayter previously served as Open-IX Secretary, indicating active participation in IX standards bodies that govern the same ecosystem SFMIX operates in.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/sfmix
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/san-francisco-metropolitan-internet-exchange

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about San Francisco Metropolitan Internet Exchange